


Dreams Of A (Somewhat) Peaceful Future

by DraconicHex



Series: A Few Minutes/Millennia [2]
Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Bad Puns, But whatever, Casual Tears in the Fabric of the Universe, F/F, I should probably add a warning for Typical Youkai Conversation here, Remember when I said I'd write a sequel to a few minutes/millennia?, Unreliable Narrator, here be lesbians, yeah this is it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2018-09-25 01:08:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9795524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraconicHex/pseuds/DraconicHex
Summary: “-And the club’s haunted! The last two girls who were in it mysteriously disappeared. So why, of all clubs, do you want to reinstate this one?”Twenty years after Renko meets Maribel again (albeit not quite), the two return to the outside world for a short visit. While they're there, they encounter something quite peculiar- someone wants to give the Sealing Club another chance.





	1. Chapter 1

“-And the club’s haunted! The last two girls who were in it mysteriously disappeared. So why, of all clubs, do you want to reinstate this one?”

A pleading voice rang out through the hallways of Kyoto University. I am, serendipitously, in the same exact part of the building as said pleading voice, so I listen quietly.

“It’s not even like extracurriculars are necessary! It’s just less study time for us. Just give it a rest, Umeko!”

Hearing this, I wink at my partner in crime (well, sort of crime. I’m fairly certain youkai aren’t bound by any laws or regulations. Attempting to order us around wouldn’t go too well.). The two of us aren’t visible, of course, so the pair coming down the hallway to the office won’t notice two rather odd upperclassmen relaxing next to each other in a tear in the fabric of the universe. “A haunted club, with two girls who were in it disappearing mysteriously? Hmm, that doesn’t sound like anything we’ve heard of, does it, Renko?”

The aforementioned partner in crime grins at me. “Not at all. Though I have to say, I wasn’t expecting for us to encounter something like that on my first visit back to the outside world. Don’t tell me you planned it?”

“I didn’t! It’s such a lovely coincidence, though, isn’t it?” I… actually didn’t plan it. But it’s best to pretend I did, by denying that I did. Because that’s what I’m known to do.

She shakes her head. “It’s been nearly thirty years at this point, and I still don’t know what I’m going to do with you.”

I decide not to mention that I’ve known her for a bit more than a few decades. Instead, I draw attention to the two girls coming down the hallway. “But trying to reinstate the Sealing Club. That’s interesting, isn’t it? I would have thought no one would have the guts to do it, after what supposedly happened to us. Who do you think this Umeko is, anyway?”

Renko’s reply is cut off by “this Umeko” responding to her probable friend’s quite understandable fright. “Well, doesn’t that sound interesting, though? It is an occult club, after all, or that’s what my ancestor Sumireko’s files seem to suggest. Thus, ghosts just come with the territory.”

Ancestor Sumireko? Then that would mean… I elbow Renko. She’s just as shocked as I am, apparently, though she’s worse at hiding it. Ah well, that will come with time. “Another Usami. Is investigating things with a high likelihood of going pear-shaped in our blood or something?”

Yes. It is. I simply pick Renko up and set her on my lap for a hug, as a rather affectionate answer.

Umeko continues with her argument, picking up speed now. “And it’s the duty of people who can investigate the occult to investigate the occult! I mean, come on. The Sealing Club’s been in my family for three generations, skipping my grandma’s. I have to continue it! The files on it are still probably in the student activities office computer, honestly! Come on, Kaori. Pleeeeeeeease? I’ll buy you lunch for a week if you promise to join.”

Lunch, for broke college students, instantly seals a deal.

The other one sighs. “Fine. But if we encounter any ghosts, I’m out. I’m not dying with student loans unpaid, thanks.”

Umeko does a little twirl. “Great, thanks! Let’s get down to the student activities office!”

I lay my chin on Renko’s shoulder. “So, are we gonna haunt them or are we gonna help them?”

She half-smiles. “Knowing you, probably both. But how should we help them if we’re going to?”

How are we going to go about this? That is a good question. But I have a good answer, at least to start. “Well, aren’t they going to need someplace to host club activities that isn’t the school dorms? I suggest our old apartment. Plus, it’ll be easier to slip my laptop with most of our club files into it that way.” I deleted the ones past the time we went to Old Adam Bar. Even if that one was embarrassing, it’s nothing compared to some of the lovey-dovey stuff that followed. Besides, I want to keep mentions of my powers’ increase to a bare minimum. 

Renko turns around on my lap to face me, causing us both to lose our balance and fall back into the void. She falls on top of me, and doesn’t move apart from propping her head up on her hand. “Whoops! Ah, sorry. But yeah, that does sound like a good idea, doesn’t it? That way, they’ll be free to spread out, well, as much as you can in a 1000 square foot apartment, and not disturb any of the other students with some of the weird stuff that our club had a tendency to get into. I have a feeling it’s not going to go away just because another Usami’s running it.”

Well, Sumireko got into so much weird shit that I eventually had to end up building dummies of her, for a reason I’ll get into at another time. Rest assured, though, the Sealing Club is Weird Stuff Central. If you don’t include Gensokyo, of course. 

But of course, that’s not the main issue here. The main issue here is that Renko is both adorable and at the perfect distance from my face for a quick kiss. So, of course, I kiss her.

What? The main issue is sorting out the new Sealing Club’s apartment? Oh, shush. 

Anyway, after that delightful diversion, I sit up. “So, which of my pseudonyms should I use for the bank account I’m going to pay the rent with? May Herron? Violetta Hearn? Han Sumire? Moya Murasaki?”

Renko pretends to consider it for a bit, but I know she’s not actually considering it at all. She’s had a bias for one in particular ever since the first time I suggested using pseudonyms in the outside world, since she could conceivably still be alive at this point, were she still human. She sits up to reply. “Well, I don’t know. What should I pick, Sumire?”

“The third one it is, then.” I make all the necessary arrangements in the next few minutes. Considering that I plan on paying a good 50,000 yen above the normal monthly rent, I’m sure there won’t be too terribly many questions. 

“Now to leave a note in their dorm explaining that they’ve won a free apartment for their stay at this university! They won’t believe it, of course, but they’ll want to go check it out. Especially Umeko, if she’s anything like you, Renko.”

“And you’re going to leave your old laptop in there, before they get there, right? I can’t help but wonder how they’ll deal with Maribel Windows 52.”

“Obviously! And they’ll deal with it like you did. Mess around until something works.” I pull out the old laptop. It’s about 20 years out of date, but it’ll do, especially considering the modifications I made to it. Really, though, with what little experience I had at the time, it was far more difficult than making a shikigami. I go to settings, and change the password to something that I don’t think will be too difficult to get.

Renko peers over my shoulder as I change it. “Hifuu, really? That’s what you’re changing it to? Well, I guess it’s fitting, if a bit obvious.”

I nod, and set the computer on the top of the counter. After a few seconds of consideration, I reach into another gap for pen and paper, then write a note and lay it on top of the computer. “For members of the Sealing Club only.” I underline Sealing a couple of times, to make the password a bit more clear.

I smile at Renko, then. “Well, it’s well past midnight. Shall we go somewhere special? We could go to a fancy restaurant, you know. After all, I haven’t taken you out to dinner in decades.” 

She shrugs. “Where, though? I don’t have a preference, in particular. Maybe somewhere romantic, for a big sap like you.”

I am not a big sap, reader. However, I love Renko very much, so I allow her to call me that.

“What do you think of Paris, Renko?” I already know what she thinks of Paris. She absolutely adores Paris. Even though she’s not exactly ever been there. So I suppose she absolutely adores Paris, in theory.

My suggestion is met with an enthusiastic hug. “That’s exactly what I expected a hopeless romantic like you to say. Now let’s go! It’s 12:48:39 AM, so if we want to get to France before five, we should get going now.”

And that, dear reader, is where I leave you. I’m not going to go into detail describing our romantic dinner to someone I don’t know, silly.

I’ll return to our tale of the new (and hopefully improved from my and Renko’s decision making) Sealing Club tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

It is, by all accounts, tomorrow. So I have to continue with our story, do I not? Renko and I quite enjoyed our romantic dinner last night, and though it did make a tiny dent in the human population of Paris, I’m sure it’s nothing that can’t be made up. People are always wanting to move there, anyway, and a couple of unexplained disappearances won’t do _too_ much to stop that.

Anyway, besides that, Renko and I are sitting on the windowsill of our old apartment, drinking tea and making bad puns while we wait and see if Umeko and Kaori are planning on showing up at all, or if they consider visiting too dangerous, or a prank.

“What did the dessert say when it got to the top of the mountain, Yukari?”

Hmm, never heard this one before. “Um… I have achieved my just desserts?”

Renko laughs. “Good, but not quite. The dessert said: ‘I’m a pie! I’m a pie!”

That is an absolutely dreadful pun. “If you make another pun like that, I’m going to dessert you on this windowsill and you can walk home.” I love her.

Renko’s about to reply when we hear the door creak indoors. So they did come! 

We peer inside (quite awkwardly. Have you _seen_ an apartment windowsill?) and watch as Kaori drops a messenger bag on the table. She turns to Umeko with an incredulous look on her face. “So you’re saying that it must be your aunt watching over us from the afterlife, to get us a place like this? You don’t even know how long the lease is for. It could be just someone pranking us by paying us a month’s rent and then leaving us high and dry here.”

Umeko shakes her head. “Now, that could be the case, if the landlord didn’t specifically say that the transaction went through entirely online, with no actual meeting with the person who rented it out. I mean, come on, her name is Sumire! You know, like my great-grandma? It’s definitely a ghost.”

I nudge Renko. “Spoooooky.”

She halfheartedly attempts to shove me off the windowsill. I float off of it, and continue to simply sit in midair. A few seconds later, she motions for me to come back, and so of course I do. Or at least, my head does, through a gap. My body will continue sitting in midair to make a point, thank you very much.

Kaori shrugs. “Suppose ghosts even exist, even are real. How would your mysteriously disappeared aunt rent an apartment? I’m pretty sure the Netherworld doesn’t have an internet connection, and Hell certainly shouldn’t. So how did your aunt Renko do it, huh?”

Umeko grabs one of Kaori’s hands in both of hers, and speaks earnestly now. “That’s what we’re investigating, of course! We’re the Secret Sealing Club, we have to investigate things that are out of the ordina...ry… where did that laptop come from?”

She appears to finally have noticed my old computer sitting on the counter. It’s certainly going to be a good introduction to the kind of occult club the Sealing Club really is, at any rate. Kaori gets to it before her, and puzzles over the sticky note on top. “Okay, that’s weird. Nobody knows we’re even in the Sealing Club, and suddenly there’s a note that this outdated laptop is ‘For members of the Sealing-’ huh, Sealing is underlined a few times- ‘Club only.’ I’m still not sure about it, but this does seem awfully like ghosts, Umeko.”

Umeko runs over towards her, notebook she just obtained from her bag in hand. “I knew it! Now, we have to log on to this computer, right? So what’s the password?”

“Umeko, just think once before you speak, please. Please. ‘Sealing’ is underlined like six times on the note, take a wild guess what the password is.”

Umeko sits down on the floor with a defeated look on her face. “You know what, okay. But if it’s wrong, you owe me 500 yen.”

Unfortunately, Umeko, you will not be earning 500 yen.

“Got~ it~!” Kaori singsongs. “Whoever gave us this apartment definitely wanted us to be able to see whatever’s on this old computer. It looks like it’s some text documents, and a few videos. The videos are older, though, so let’s look at them first, okay?”

Umeko throws up her hands in mock despair. “At least you didn’t take my bet. I don’t have 500 yen to spare.”

Kaori shushes her and clicks on the oldest video. Ah yes, when I had first met Renko and we had mutual crushes on each other and each thought the other one was straight. Good times.

The video starts off with a black screen. Then, voices abruptly start to talk. “Okay, this is the new and improved Sealing Club! It’s not just one person now! I outdid great-aunt Sumireko, at least!”

Another, quieter voice cuts in. I was shy, at one point in time. I really can’t imagine it now, but okay, eighteen-year-old me. You can act however you feel like you should. “Renko… I think you have the camera flipped around the wrong way. You shouldn’t have left it on the desk, probably.”

“Oh! Right.” The video changes to a pair of girls peering over a tablet camera. One’s dark brown hair nearly reaches the table from her leaning position, and her ribboned hat is attempting to slide off of her head to the side. The other one is blonde, and holding something that appears to be a frilly piece of cloth in front of her lavender dress. (It’s improper to wear a hat indoors.) “Well, let’s do the intro again, then. I’m Usami Renko, second president of the Secret Sealing Club. And this is my partner, Mari- er, Meribe- er... ah darn it, Merry.” The quieter voice cuts in again. “Maribel Hearn, psychology major here at this university.”

“Right! So, the two of us are going to be investigating the supernatural together! We’re kind of an odd sort of occult club, as in we don’t summon ghosts or demons or anything. We mostly look for openings to other worlds, that have supernatural things in them! That’s where Merry comes in.”

The other voice softly chides Renko. “Renko, you said you wouldn’t mention my ability in anything public! We’re going to have to delete this video now.”

Renko fires right back. “What? This video isn’t going to be public, it’s going to be for posterity! We can save it on a flash drive for the next generation of the Sealing Club to watch. They’ll need an explanation if something happens, after all.”

“What do you mean something happens? Oh well, I have to explain my ability, right? I can see the boundaries between worlds. Something that’s quite helpful if you’re trying to find them, right Renko?”

In a half-laughing voice, she replies. “It’s a lot more helpful than being able to see what time it is, that’s for sure. Goodbye for now, whoever’s watching. Good luck with the Sealing Club!”

The video cuts off, and I look next to me. Renko’s crying a little. I move all of me back to the windowsill as she mumbles. “We were so naive, weren’t we, Yukari? We didn’t expect any of this to happen.” I put an arm over her shoulder as she continues. “But you know what?” Her face brightens. “I’m glad it did, and I met you. Even if we didn’t get the happy ending we expected, we still got one, right? Just a bit of an odd one. Which might have been a bit unsettling had either of us known about it at the time.”

I squeeze her shoulder. “Now who’s the hopeless romantic, Renko? But yes. I am so glad to have met you. Even if I did take a bit of a detour through time, we’re enjoying our life together now, aren’t we? That’s a rhetorical question. Yes, we are.”  
She hugs me back. “It’s almost better than a matter baby.”

At this moment in time, I make a crucial mistake. I say the following sentence. “What’s a matter baby?”

Renko breaks out of my hug and does finger guns at me. “Nothing, baby. What’s the matter with you?”

I love her so much. “I’m not talking to you for the next millennium.” 

She gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. “You can’t do that, you love me too much.”

We’re interrupted by Kaori clicking on the next video. “Okay, this one seems to correspond with the first text document on here. They’re published at around the same time.”

The video opens up with a bumpy shot of a bus window. I think I was the one filming, because Renko’s phone had an image stabilizer. “Aren’t we going to do an introduction video for our first trip with real, actual leads? Those pictures don’t look doctored, as far as I know.”

The video turns towards Renko, sitting next to me. “Yeah, we will. So anyway, future Sealing Club member, here’s what we have planned. I have some photographs from my great-aunt Sumireko, and they appear to be of the Netherworld. The notes she wrote with them say that the nearest entrance to where we are is in Rendaino, so, of course, we’re on a city bus at one in the morning, heading to a graveyard. I really don’t understand how you manage to stay awake like this, Merry.”

“Well, I’ve been having nightmares lately. So I don’t want to sleep very much, since I don’t want to wake up in a cold sweat.”

“What kind of nightmares? I heard that drinking chamomile tea before bed can calm your nerves and relieve bad dreams.”

“Just your usual nightmares, dreams about being chased and such.” I only really started to trust Renko with things like this after I started bringing physical items back from dreams. Young me wasn’t very clever, was she? If she had been, she would have known that she could trust Renko with her life.

Renko shrugs. “Well, if you die of exhaustion I’ll kill you. Wait, shit. Ignore that sentence. Turn off the video!”

Past me giggles and turns off the recording. The Renko sitting next to me now baps me on the head. “You were incredibly shy back then, yet you still managed to make an idiot of me in front of my niece, twenty years in the future. That’s stunning.”

I am indeed stunning, if I do say so myself. Or write so, I suppose. 

Umeko mutters, “My aunt was an utter disaster, wasn’t she?”

Kaori clicks on the accompanying text file to the video. “Yes, and it appears you’ve inherited that trait. Lucky you. Huh, this document’s like a case file or something. It just describes outcomes of the trip, I guess? Apparently, Renko and Merry did make it to the Netherworld, or at least to the border. That’s more than most occult clubs do.”

“Well! We have to outdo them in that respect, at least. Right, Kaori?” 

Good luck, dear. You won’t be “outdoing” us, not if I can help it. I will not allow the Sealing Club to get into any more situations more life-threatening than Sumireko’s. I. E., a spellcard duel or ten.

Kaori clicks on the next video. “Sure, Umeko. Considering your only special power is to make yourself temporarily unnoticeable to anything except for the naked eye, I would say that we’ll do absolutely great.”

That sounds helpful, actually. Just get out of sight of a youkai and you’re perfectly safe. The trouble is actually getting into a place where she’d even need to run away. If they can’t find other worlds, they won’t be much of a Sealing Club.

“But Kaori, you can sense places with high spiritual energy, can’t you? So we can find other worlds that way.” Umeko appears to have perfected her wheedling voice.

“Shhh.” The video opens to me- Maribel me, obviously- talking about my dreams.

“Since I can wake up from them voluntarily, maybe they’re not quite nightmares? They aren’t good dreams, though. Hey, why are you filming?”

“Because if this develops any more, the new Sealing Club members will need an explanation for why you’re traveling to dreams now.”

“All right. But let’s make this a short one, shall we? Essentially, I’ve been having those nightmares I mentioned in the last video for a while, but they’re not quite nightmares any more. It’s not always me being chased, or anything, but it always is somewhere else, that looks kind of like Meiji era Japan? Sometimes I’m still chased, though. But lately, I’ve been able to bring items back from my dreams. Something like that isn’t just boundary perception, is it? It’s almost like I’m crossing over boundaries now.”

Renko makes an affirmative noise. “Mhm. We have to make sure that this isn’t connected to anything bad, but if we could learn to control it, it could be incredibly useful, couldn’t it?” The video cuts off.

Oh, if you only knew, past Renko. If you only knew. Present Renko laughs softly at that. “Incredibly useful is right, if by useful you mean capable of destroying the known universe with little to no effort. It’s a good thing that you think the known universe is kind of cool, huh?”

Yes, indeed. But as to why… “I fancy it because you’re here, Renko. If you weren’t, It would be terribly boring.”

“And you say you're heartless. Oh, look, they’re starting up the one after you got out of the hospital, Yukari.”

The video opens to the same apartment that Umeko and Kaori are currently standing in. I’m sitting on the futon (There’s only one at this point. Renko and I started dating a few days after they announced the moon tours to the public.) and Renko’s filming, as usual. 

I appear to be an a somewhat bad mood. You would be too, if you had to live in a sanatorium for several months. “So, are you going to apologize for your recklessness? Fevers for three months aren’t fun, Renko. Just in case you weren’t aware.”

The camera moves down abruptly. Renko is sitting across from me. “Yes, I’m sorry for thinking that it would be just a dream for you too, Merry. I should have known that, considering your previous dreams. But this video’s not about that, is it?”

“No, it isn’t. It’s an update on the situation. Basically, Renko and I went, in one of my so-called ‘dreams’, to a certain abandoned space station. Said abandoned space station was not, as we expected, uninhabited, and I ended up being attacked by… something… living there. When we got back, I went to the hospital, and was diagnosed with an extraterrestrial virus. And sent to a sanatorium for three months, thanks to my dreams being what they are. Now I’m back again! And Renko, I don’t actually blame you. I was utterly reckless in my earlier dreams, too, so it only makes sense for you to be, especially when you’re not the actual one who crosses boundaries in her sleep.”

“Thank you, Merry. I really don’t want you to hate me. But I’ve been saving up so many things for us to do over the past few months! I’m so glad you’re back.”

I shuffle over to her and give her a hug. “I’m glad to be back, too. Shall we cut the video now, then? We’ve already explained the situation, and I’ve missed you so much...”

“Sure, if you’ll let go for just five seconds so I can reach the ‘end recording’ button.”

The screen changes to black. Umeko says something, very quietly. Kaori, even, apparently can’t hear it, as she asks “What did you say?” in response.

Umeko raises her voice to a normal speaking volume. “Apparently, the inability to think straight is inherited in my family.”

Kaori looks on in surprise for a few seconds, and then shakes her head. “And apparently that’s a trait that the two of us share, too. Ahaha…”

Good, they’re inheriting the Sealing Club tradition. At least, I think it’s a tradition. Sumireko never stated one way or the other.

It’s Umeko who clicks on the next video, the last one I didn’t delete. It was filmed the day after we went to Old Adam Bar, so I have quite the hangover in it. Nonetheless, it contains important information.

It opens to a shot of Renko sitting at the desk, filmed from the futon. A sleepy, half-slurred voice comes from behind the camera.

“Renkooo, can you please explain the article we published? I don’t want to talk. My head hurts…”

“It would hurt less if you actually tried to sleep, Merry. But alright, I will. Basically, the two of us published an article on the Sealing Club’s adventures- well, mostly Merry’s. But anyway, it got published, so if you want to look at a few of our theories on what exactly happens in other worlds, they’re there.”

“It’s called Swallowstone Naturalis Historia. Good night, Renko.”

“Maribel, it’s three P.M.”

“I said ‘good night, Renko’. Not ‘be sassy, Renko’. I love you, anyway. Even if I have the worst headache I’ve ever had in my life.”

“Love you too, Merry.”

The video cuts off. Umeko sighs. “They were so cute together.” Thank you very much, dear. I think we are too. “It’s too bad they’re dead. Well, at least one of them’s a ghost!”

Kaori closes the laptop. “Well, they obviously showed us this computer for a reason. What do you think that reason is, miss investigator?”

Umeko sits down on the edge of the desk. “Are you saying we investigate the places they’ve been, and see if we find any evidence of where they’ve gone? Count me in!”

The other nods. “But first, we need to get moved in here. Come on, let’s go to the dorm and get our things, shall we?”  
The two leave, leaving Renko and I alone on the windowsill. I turn to her, only to find her hugging me tightly. “I’ve just been remembering how much I love you, from watching those videos. All the struggles we went through are nothing compared to the love we have now, isn’t that right?”

Who’s the hopeless romantic again? I assure you, reader, it is not me.

Renko continues with her speech. “And it’s reminding me of when I first came to Gensokyo, about twenty years ago today. I have to say, I was surprised by the way your home works. Fox computers, the very matter of the house itself being hidden inside the Great Barrier… It was mind-boggling. But strangely enough, I’ve gotten used to it.”

I smile at this. Of course she has. Anyone will, with enough time, after all.

“It is strange, isn’t it? We’re both strange, together. Shall we return home, then?”

She nods, and the two of us fall into a hole in the universe. Together, after so many years of waiting.

That is where I leave _you_ for now, dear reader. Wasn’t that absolutely heartwarming? It’s too bad that it happens over a hundred and seventy years into your future. I’m sure you’d be quite interesting to chat with, myself. Now, goodbye! Our tale will resume when Renko and I check up on the new Sealing club again.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello again, dear reader. Renko and I are again on our way to look after the Sealing Club, as the two of them are going on their first expedition to a place with actual supernatural events today! They’ve mostly spent the past week or so collecting supplies and things, and marveling at Renko’s great-aunt’s ancient 3D printed gun. They thankfully aren’t bringing it with them, though. Guns frankly aren’t very helpful against supernatural beings. I’m speaking from experience here, though I’m not going to specify which side of it.

Renko would like to add that umbrellas are quite helpful against supernatural beings. I would like to clarify that the only umbrella she’s ever used in a fight against a supernatural being is a five-millennia-old parasol that’s been imbued with magic thanks to close proximity to me for its entire existence. If I stopped using it, it would become quite the tsukumogami, I think.

But enough about useless countermeasures to me and my girlfriend! Let’s get back to Kaori and Umeko, shall we?

The place they’ve chosen for their first expedition is thankfully not a certain shrine in Nagano prefecture, because that would cause a whole boatload of issues with keeping them alive. Instead, they’ve chosen the same place that Renko and I chose to first investigate other worlds- Rendaino. It does make sense, since Umeko at least is convinced that we’re ghosts. I did tell Yuyuko that it would be an excellent idea to pretend that Renko and I didn’t exist for the next few days, and she promptly began ignoring me, so I expect she understood. I don’t want the new Sealing Club to find out we’re alive until I’m good and ready.

Anyway, this should be interesting! Renko and I, currently, are perched on top of a pair of gravestones. They’re surprisingly comfortable, you know, if a bit chilly. 

A light appears at the entrance to the graveyard, followed by a quite familiar voice at this point. “Umeko, we’re here. Don’t you think we maybe should have brought along Maribel and Renko’s files with the location of the gravestone instead of just relying on me?”

As the light grows closer, the other voice cuts in. “Yeah, that would be a great idea. Dragging a fragile, irreplaceable, twenty-year-old computer on a trip to another world. You said you were ninety-nine percent sure of finding it anyway, right? So there’s no problem.”

The light stops short. Apparently Kaori is simply standing stock still in disgust. “The university has a printer, Umeko. A printer that can print text documents.”

Umeko tries to salvage the situation. “Well, we wouldn’t want to take a computer with important files on it into the university, anyway! What time is it, by the way?”

The light begins to move closer again. “It’s 2:20 in the morning. If we don’t actually find what we’re looking for, we’re going to end up exhausted for nothing. And do we even know if we’ll find it? For all we know, this could still be nothing but an elaborate prank.”

“Says the one with the ability to sense spiritual energy. Seriously, for someone with weird powers of your own, you’re incredibly skeptical.”

“Umeko, I just happen to notice that shrines have a powerful aura surrounding them. That isn’t exactly hard!”

The light grows close enough for me to see that it’s a miniature flashlight, and to see what it’s illuminating. The current Sealing Club appears to be wearing their everyday, normal clothes. Well, with one exception. Umeko’s wearing a cape. A cape that’s several sizes too small for her, its lining emblazoned with runes. 

I mean, at least the item that Renko chose to borrow indefinitely from her great-aunt was something reasonable.

Kaori continues the conversation. “Anyway, I feel like this way is the right one. But why are you so bent on believing in magic? I can understand it after we saw what we did at our apartment, but before that, why? Especially believing that the ghost of your aunt is haunting us. That seemed a bit far-fetched for a while.”

Umeko shrugs. “Well, wanting to know about things that shouldn’t be explainable does run in my family, though I wouldn’t have known about that had I kept my nose out of my mom’s business. Lucky for me, I’m nosy.”

“What do you mean, you’re nosy? Your mom wasn’t in the Sealing Club, was she?”

“No, she wasn’t. But I ended up finding out that I used to have an aunt, from being nosy, and ended up asking a lot of questions about her, and finding out about the club that way. My mom didn’t seem to have very good memories of her? She said that she was selfish, for some reason. She wouldn’t tell me why, and from what we've seen of Renko, it doesn’t seem like she was like that.”

The pair reach the row of graves in front of ours. Kaori stops abruptly. “This one.”

“Huh? Alright. We’re supposed to turn it, aren’t we?”

“Yes, at 2:30. We have two minutes.”

Umeko awkwardly gathers her cape around herself. “It’s really chilly. Do you want to borrow this for a bit?”

Kaori, without turning around, mutters, “If I was caught dead in that cape, I’d come back to life and take it off.”

In a normal tone of voice, she continues; “Anyway, it’s time!”

The two grip the gravestone securely, and with some effort, turn it by a quarter rotation. 

I feel the odd sensation of someone that isn’t me interfering with a boundary, and then the two are surrounded by a practical storm of cherry blossoms. 

Umeko stands, stunned, for a second. “So it actually worked. Look at all those stairs… are we going to have to climb them all?”

Kaori abruptly sits down. “Well, that’s something. And yes, if we want to explore the Netherworld, we’ll have to climb the stairs. Do we have to do that, though? It’s enough to just snap a few pictures and call it a night, right?”

“Yeah, okay. I’m still stunned, though. There are other worlds, I know that for sure now, and my aunt and her girlfriend actually visited them.”

Kaori takes out a tablet camera. “And it’s quite likely that they died in one of them. So I have to wonder, why are we still investigating places like that?”

“Well, obviously it’s because they’re interesting! What’s the point of living to a hundred and twenty if you’re just constantly bored?”

A certain immortal would undoubtedly agree with that statement. Formerly, I would have as well, but I’ve found that living for ages tends to have its perks.

If I wasn’t practically immortal, after all, I would never have seen Renko again. But where were we? Ah yes, the danger of investigating the supernatural.

Those two really don’t realize what they’ve gotten themselves into yet, though. They talk about dying and all, but the Netherworld isn’t dangerous at all unless you manage to tick Yuyuko off, which is a feat in and of itself. And I doubt that a pair of university students would manage it. They aren’t in any danger, so far. But no doubt the safety of their earlier trips will lull them into a false sense of security, leading to disaster.

No, I am not projecting! I’m simply considering a likely problem.

The two take a few snapshots, then, when a minute passes, are stopped short rather quickly by the closing of the gate to the Netherworld. Well, I guess Yuyuko won’t have to temporarily ignore my existence after all.

Renko sighs. “Well, that was nerve-wracking.”

I turn to her with a puzzled expression. “What do you mean? I told Yuyuko to act like we didn’t exist. It wouldn’t have been a problem.”

“The barrier between Gensokyo and the Netherworld is thin, isn’t it? If they went through it, it would have been somewhat problematic.”

She does have a point. I was going to fix that… sometime… a hundred or so years ago… I suppose I simply must have forgotten.

“Well, I’m sure they would have been fine. It would have caused problems if they weren’t, so I would most likely have interfered a bit.”

“You’re honestly just a big softie, aren’t you? Under that intimidating, mysterious persona.”

I am not, dear reader. I assure you that when you remove the mysterious persona, you end up with something that is actually quite terrifying, and that also loves her girlfriend very much and would not contradict her when called a big softie by her because she cares about her. In any case, let’s continue.

Kaori just stares at the gravestone for a few seconds. “Well, that’s just lovely. How many photos did you get, Umeko?”

Umeko waves her phone. “Sixty seconds of video! It’s harder to fake. We can put it on the Sealing Club computer for posterity.”

“Umeko, we won’t be giving THAT computer to posterity. It’s twenty years old! And even if it functions now, probably thanks to our predecessors taking really good care of it, it won’t function in twenty years because we aren’t computer geniuses.”

Umeko tilts her head to the side. “That’s true. The only genius we have here is exactly one incredible mythology buff with excellent intuition.”

Kaori sighs. “I beg to differ. The only genius we have here is someone who can avoid any unpleasant situation just by going around the corner, who knows practically everything there is to know about ghosts.”

“Knowing about ghosts isn’t genius, idiot! It’s just the mark of someone who’s spent too much time on the internet.”

“And what would that make me, then…?”

“Someone who spends too much time with her nose in books, but who’s actually good at remembering things she reads from them!”

“Well, that’s one way of putting it. Let’s go home, then. I’m dead tired. Next time we go on an adventure, can we go somewhere that it’s possible to go during the day, please?”

Umeko abruptly removes her cape and drops it onto Kaori’s shoulders. “You’re shivering. And next time, yes. But I was thinking that, considering the reason I joined the Sealing Club at least, maybe we could try to find out a bit more about our predecessors?”

Even though Kaori said she wouldn’t be caught dead in that cape, she makes no effort to take it off. “You mean, what eventually happened to them? Well, isn’t it obvious? If your aunt’s helping us right now, from the afterlife, she’s obviously dead. And since she disappeared without a trace, she probably died in one of those ‘illusionary worlds’.”

Umeko picks up the flashlight from next to the grave and holds it out to her. “You’d think that, but it doesn’t quite add up. From what we know, my aunt’s girlfriend was the one who made it possible for them to travel to other worlds. Now, you’d think that that wouldn’t be a problem, right? They disappeared around the same time, after all.”

Kaori pockets her phone and grabs the flashlight as Umeko continues. “Wrong. I managed to wheedle some information out of my mom, and guess what? Merry disappeared three months earlier. That makes it impossible for Renko to have gone to another world! There’s something that doesn’t makes sense here, and I’m going to find out what it is.”

Ooh, she’s good. If she really figures it out, though, I’ll be quite impressed.

Kaori just stares. “...You know, I hadn’t thought of that. That is odd. We’re still going home though, and investigating tomorrow rather than right now. I’m dead tired.”

The two exit the graveyard like a pair of very sleepy grave robbers. Even though they technically didn’t steal anything.

Renko dismounts her gravestone with a flourish. “Well, they certainly seem like they’re on the way to something. Time will tell what it is, I guess, but it’s gonna be something.”

I don’t dismount my gravestone; I simply remove myself from its vicinity without any need for physical exertion. Nevertheless, I wind up standing next to Renko a few seconds later. “Yes, it will be something. But do you want to go home and maybe read for a bit? It is two, so dinner won’t be for a while. But I’m sure Chen would love to see you around, since you’re the only one in the house who indulges in her rebellious teenager phase.”

“Yukari, you had a rebellious teenager phase too. Remember that one time you told your Psych 101 teacher to take Freud and shove him up his ass?”

“I didn’t! I simply calmly stated that Freud’s theories were ridiculously outdated and that he’d be a laughingstock if he used any of them again.”

“I was waiting to pick you up outside the classroom that day, you know. Lying is bad.”

I am not embarrassed, dear reader. I never am.

“Well, anyway, let’s go home, shall we?” I say while I absolutely do not blush remembering some of my more blunt words from my teenage years.

Renko and I step into the void together, as we have so many times before, and I reflect on how utterly lucky I am to have found someone like her, and managed to meet her again.

That is where I shall leave you for now. I do hope you’re enjoying this; after all, it’s not every day you get to have a tale narrated to you by the great youkai of boundaries! You should be quite honored. 

Oh? You want to know why I’m telling you, of all people? Well… you’re quite the character, of course! Nothing more than that. 

Really, humans just have to see ulterior motives in everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kaori's ability is much like Reimu's intuition, but a bit more refined, since it's the only ability she has. Not that she knows this, of course; she just thinks she's lucky.


	4. Chapter 4

Ah, hello. It’s you again. Well, sorry to disappoint too terribly, but it’s rather too early at the moment for the Sealing Club to be out and about and investigating my and Renko’s current situation. So I suppose you’ll have to listen to me chatter on about Ran desperately trying to get Chen to bed before nine AM while Renko and I plan out where we predict that the pair are going to go first in their investigation. Cheers!

Renko, of course, is quite good at prediction (at least when she can see the stars) so that segment of conversation passes surprisingly quickly. “Well, according to Alpha Centauri’s current position in relation to Venus’ earlier this evening, I’d say that they’re probably going to attempt to plan everything out from their apartment, so we should go there first.”

“What time is first?” I say, attempting to raise my voice over Chen’s petulant yells.

“About 8:52 AM, exactly an hour and twenty-two minutes after a certain nekomata should have been in bed.” Renko says in an irritated tone, no doubt due to the mewling currently dominating conversation in this house.

“I’m a hundred and seventy-nine years old, I shouldn’t have a bedtime! Lady Ran, you’re treating me just like a child when I’m not! I have a third tail now, I’m practically an adult!”

I cut in, simply because I can’t stand her voice cracking on every third syllable. “Chen, dear, the fact that you’re still counting the years by ones doesn’t do much for your argument about age. And practically isn’t a signifier of anything, really. I can say that I’ll practically blow my top if the new shrine maiden ignores me causing trouble in order for her to notice me one more time, but nothing’s going to actually happen to my top.”

“But Lady Renko’s only forty-something! Why doesn’t she have a bedtime? It’s not fair! I hate living here!”

Chen storms off to her room in a huff.

I don’t really think Ran knows how to deal with youkai Chen’s age. Maybe it’s because she’s not old enough to wrap back around to relating to them.

Nevertheless, she halfheartedly calls after her shikigami. “Well, considering how you act, maybe you need to subtract an extra hundred when calculating your age! After all, considering how much milk you drink, you certainly seem like a child!”

Have you ever been insulted by a computer? It’s rather pathetic, usually.

...Oh, you think this has something to do with the current situation? When did I say that?

Anyhow, now the distraction is sulking in her room, and there’s twenty minutes until Umeko and company start whatever it is they’re doing to investigate our circumstances.

Since we have twenty minutes, and Renko realizes this, she immediately scoots over to me and puts her head in my lap. “What do you think the two of them are going to think of us? I mean, they just barely know youkai exist at all, thanks to a certain Dr. Latency.”

“Well. I’d imagine that they’d be quite surprised, to say the least. They might be somewhat angry at us, which is always lovely. Or on the other hand, considering the two’s penchant for investigating the unexplained, they might attempt to find any urban legends or old tales relating to us, just for the sheer joy of finding something out that they didn’t expect.” I absentmindedly pat her head.

“I wonder if we maybe shouldn’t have let them see that article, though. It might… color their perceptions, somewhat? Considering that you were utterly terrified of your dreams at the time. But then again, them being a bit afraid is fitting, I suppose.”

That’s a fair point. It’s not like one would generally enjoy carrying on a conversation if one knows that the other participant in that conversation is perfectly capable of murdering one if she so chooses.

However… “I’d think that us being the former two members of the Sealing Club would color their perception just as much, wouldn’t it? And you being Umeko’s aunt and all.”

Overly optimistic? Maybe. But that’s just my expectation.

Renko nods. “It might balance it out at best, but somehow I don’t have the feeling that Umeko’s going to want to run up to me and give me a hug. That’s just my guess. Anyway-” She looks out the door- “We have two minutes. Do you think we should get going?”

I nod. Ran fusses over Renko as the two of us get ready to leave. 

“Mistress Renko, are you sure that that little cape will be enough to keep you warm? Even with your gloves, it’s still chilly out this early in the morning, and you are young, so…”

I pause in the middle of choosing what fan to bring with me today. “Ran, do I have to remind you again? Renko isn’t a child. Need I remind you that when I was twenty years younger than she is right now, I was fending for myself in the middle of ancient Japan? I’m sure she’ll be fine, cape or no.”

“Aww, defending my honor! But it is chilly out. Are you sure you don’t want to bring a shawl or something? I expect it won’t get past 15 degrees today.”

(A note for you, dear reader, since you might use the scale of measuring temperature that has its zero at the freezing point of mixed salt and water as opposed to using something that makes logical sense: That would be fifteen degrees centigrade. Well above freezing.)

“Well, I suppose I might, if that’s what you expect. Your expectations are generally among the few things that one can be assured will happen, besides death and taxes. If you’re human, that is.”

“Those two things are generally what those like us can be assured won’t happen. You make terrible examples, Yukari.”

With that, the two of us simply take a few steps into a certain apartment. Leaned against the wall this time, instead of sitting uncomfortably on a windowsill. Not two seconds later, a flustered Kaori hustles into the kitchen and sits down at the table.

A voice sounds from the other room. “Okay, do you think we can find her contact information? We’re going to stop by my mom’s place first, of course, but if we can talk to her, it’ll be helpful. After all, I doubt my mom’s going to be very helpful in the first place, and a former ambassador’s sure to have connections to at least some people who were involved in the incident.”

A what?

I’m sorry, dear reader, but what did she just say? I don’t think I heard her correctly. Did she say a former ambassador?

Oh, this is going to be a bother.

“I do think we can find it. Though I don’t know how Renko’s ghost would feel about us calling up her dead girlfriend’s mother.”

Renko gives my shoulder a squeeze. Not that I need it; I made peace with abandoning humanity long ago. But I won’t complain about having Renko closer to me.

“Oh, I’m sure she’ll be fine with it. So, Elise Hearn lives in Ireland, right? We know that much from the files that Merry wrote up on her. Do we have any contact info, or anything?”

Yes, you do, if you would kindly look at the email account on the computer currently sitting on the table in front of Kaori. Unfortunately, it’s kind of difficult for you to look at anything if you’re in the other room.

Just as I think that, Umeko shuffles into the kitchen in pajamas and bunny slippers. 

Kaori takes one good look at her and throws a napkin her way. “Go get dressed! We’re not going to go see your mom in bunny slippers. And I think we do have info on Elise, after checking the contacts page on Merry’s email. We have one phone number, and one email address. This should work.”

A few moments later, Umeko returns from the bedroom in her everyday clothes, accented by a quite noticeable rune-covered cape.

“Are you still wearing that thing?”

“No, it got on my back completely by accident. I have no idea how it got there. But let’s go see Mom, shall we?”

Renko and I follow the two of them to the train station. Of course, we’re not exactly going to ride in the train, considering that they’re taking the above-ground line. A little wind in one’s hair is nice when going for a trip, and the two of us know the stop for Renko’s hometown, anyway.

So, of course, it ends up with me holding Renko on my lap with two hands and holding myself to the roof of the train with another two.

What’s with that expression? 

You think the number doesn’t add up? Perhaps you should consider taking another math course.

Anyway, landscapes whip by one after another. The gravitational forces on this train, incidentally, would cause any human sitting atop it to be flung off onto the train track in milliseconds, likely immobilized by pain, and then to be run over and crushed the next time the train comes back down the track. By the way, this particular train takes 67 minutes to return down the track, so one would be lying there, in extreme pain, for that exact amount of time. It would be best to hope that the fall killed you, in that case.

Of course, falling isn’t much of a worry for youkai. But it’s an interesting situation to think about, isn’t it?

Ah, we’ve reached the station. Well, that was quick! 

Renko and I lightly dismount the train and follow Umeko and Kaori into the crowd. It’s really not difficult to keep an eye on them, considering Umeko’s cape. 

They get on a tram after paying for their trips. Renko and I take a seat on top of it again, and she stares off into the distance.

“You know, Yukari, even though I wouldn’t give up what I am now for the world, seeing this place makes me feel a bit nostalgic, you know?”

“Is it this place, or is it the Sealing Club itself? I’d say the latter, wouldn’t you?”

“Maybe. Ah, here we are. Sis’ place. It’s quite convenient that she can’t see us, because that would make a rather awkward conversation.”

“Indeed.”

As the Sealing Club passes through the townhouse’s door, Renko and I glide in behind them, much like the pair of ghosts they think we are.

Umeko calls up the stairs. “MUM! I have a question I want to ask you!”

A crash is heard from a place that is distinctly not upstairs. A middle-aged woman, her face creased with stress, emerges into the entryway from the kitchen. “Oh, Umeko! What a nice surprise to see you! What a nice surprise that I dropped a plate that cost 5,000 yen from the surprise!”

“Oh, uh, sorry, Mum. But I do have a question.”

“Alright, you and your girlfriend can fire away. Go ahead, ask me something else to rattle me. I really don’t care at this point.”

Umeko waves her hands in front of her in a flustered fashion. “No, no, no, she’s not my girlfriend! Really!”

Kaori makes a half-agreeing, half-giggling noise.

Renko nudges me. “This doesn’t remind me of anything, does it you?”

“Absolutely nothing at all.”

Umeko continues. “But anyway. I know you said you wouldn’t talk any further on the subject, but-”  
“If this is about my sister, no. I’m not answering it.”

Umeko flings her hands up in the air. “Fine! If you won’t answer any questions about Renko, what about Maribel? Why don’t you like her?”

Renko’s sister just stares for a moment. “Why? Why don’t I like her? I don’t know, would you like someone who’s the MAIN REASON YOUR PIECE OF SHIT SISTER IS GONE FOREVER? WOULD YOU, UMEKO?”

Umeko flinches back towards the door at that. “Mum, listen. She can’t possibly be the reason that Aunt Renko’s gone, she disappeared months before Renko did. Please calm down.”

Renko’s sister storms off towards the kitchen. “You don’t know shit! Don’t go making assumptions that people are dead just because there’s no proof to the contrary, and don’t you dare do anything related to the Sealing Club! I know exactly who that cape belonged to.”

She calls over her shoulder. “And don’t do any research on what happened to either of them unless you want to end up like they did!”

Now it’s my turn to give Renko’s shoulder a squeeze. “Are you quite alright?”

Renko sighs. “We sent her letters, saying she could talk to me whenever she wanted, but she ignored them. Sometimes I feel like she’s just being stubborn. But then again, befriending youkai isn’t for everyone.”

“Well, all of the Hakurei shrine maidens have done it perfectly well. I don’t see why she can’t.”

“I suppose. But considering that the new Sealing Club’s leaving at the moment, do you think we should follow them?”

“Indeed.”

After leaving the house, the two head back to their apartment. You know, for being spiritually sensitive, Kaori’s certainly not noticing the two of us very well- ah, what did she just say?

“You know, Umeko, I’ve had the strangest feeling all day today.”

“Good strange, or bad strange? And why do you think?”

“I’ve had this odd feeling that there’s something magical near us, but I just can’t figure out what it is! It’s so frustrating.”

“Well, maybe we should be wary, just in case?”  
“No, I don’t think so. If it wanted to hurt us, it probably would have already. Plus, I have the feeling that it’s something that’s difficult to properly be wary of.”

“Oh well, if you really think so. Anyway, we have a call to make, don’t we?”

“Yeah. I hope she actually speaks Japanese.”

“If she was a former ambassador to Japan, I’d probably say she does, Kaori.”

“Alright. Let’s go, then. Can’t wait for the international charges on my phone bill.”

Kaori dials a number into her phone, and the room is completely silent as it rings.

The ringing stops, and a confused voice begins to speak. She really doesn’t sound seventy years old… 

“Hello? May I ask why you’re calling? I stopped being an ambassador to Japan twenty years ago, just so you know. So if it’s about that, I’m afraid I can’t help.”

 

Kaori’s voice immediately becomes a bit more shy. “Uh, are you miss Elise Hearn? My friend and I are really sorry to bother you like this, and we know it’s probably a difficult topic for you, but the two of us are investigating your daughter and her roommate’s disappearances.”

I’m afraid that my commentary on this segment of the day is going to be a bit subpar, dear reader. I’m in a bit of a state that isn’t conducive to detailed writing.

No, it has no relation to the current situation! Renko’s just hugging me rather tightly, and I can’t write very well if my arms are pinned to my sides.

The voice on the other side of the phone pauses for a bit. Then, quietly: “May I ask who’s calling?”

Umeko gently takes the phone from Kaori. “Usami Umeko, and and Akazaki Kaori, my friend and partner in the Sealing Club, which, I believe, is the same club your daughter was in in her time here?”

“Ah. Are you possibly related to Usami Renko?”

“Yes. So, I’d like to ask; is there anything unusual you noticed in the few months leading up to your daughter’s disappearance?”

The phone goes silent for a few minutes. “Not in just a few months, but the previous summer, she was admitted to a sanatorium due to unexplainable fever and what she said was ‘seeing beyond boundaries.’ Her father had a similar condition, but it never advanced to the level hers did- oh, and I’m sorry if this sounds ridiculously fantastical, but apparently she was traveling to the places she saw in her sleep.”

“It doesn’t sound too far-fetched to me. It’s what she noted in her club files, after all. Did she contact you at all during the few months before she disappeared?” Kaori retakes the phone.

“She did not contact me much, no. However, there was one time, a few days before that, that she called me and said ‘I think I’ve got it under control now! I’ll tell you more about it when I come back to Ireland to visit after college, but I really think I do!’ After that, she never contacted me again.”

And what, exactly, was I supposed to say if I did contact her?

“Ah. I see, so she said she had something under control, but she didn’t specify what? That’s somewhat worrying. Do you think there’s a possibility she misjudged her level of control over this something?”

“You think that’s possibly what caused her disappearance? Well, I mean, considering the strange things that used to happen around her and my husband, I wouldn’t put it out of the question. Though it’s somewhat unsettling to think that the reason for her disappearance was less mundane that we expected.”

Oooh, I get to add a point to my “people who have called me unsettling” counter! 

That certainly offsets the drop in my mood from earlier in this phone call.

Kaori shuffles from side to side. “Yes, it is a bit strange to consider. Do you want to hang up now, and have us keep in touch with you over the phone?”

“Yes, I think that would be alright. I can pay your international calls charges, if you’d like.”

“That would be very nice! Thank you for being so helpful, Mrs. Hearn.”

“And thank you for investigating a disappearance that I thought I would never get closure on, Miss Usami and Miss Akazaki. Please do call me if you need assistance or if you find anything pertaining to my daughter’s location.”

The call ends. I slump down on the wall.

Renko pats my head. “Alright, now it’s my turn to ask if you’re alright. Hearing your mother’s voice is probably a bit more difficult if it hasn’t happened for five thousand years.”

“I’m fine, Renko.”  
“You don’t sound fine. Listen, it’s okay to have emotions, they exist for a reason. Just let it happen.”

“I said. I. Am. Fine. Renko. Please stop acting like I’m going to be traumatized by one little phone call. I have seen empires rise and fall, I have led an invasion that failed miserably, and you’re expecting this to be the thing that I emotionally just absolutely can’t deal with?”

“Yukari. Calm down. I’m not saying you can’t deal with it. I’m saying you can, but it might be detrimental to you overall. Just let yourself cry for once in your life, will you?”

“I… fine. Can I have your shoulder to lean on?”

“Of course.”

Come to think of it, what was the last time I really, truly cried about something, besides when I built up the courage to see Renko again?

Oh, dear, that was a long time ago, wasn’t it.

Nearly a thousand years ago. 

Nevertheless, as I bury my head in Renko’s shoulder, I can’t help but feel that someone’s going to call me weak for crying. Not that anyone has, but… 

After I finish crying, I look back over to the table. Umeko and Kaori seem deep in discussion over something.

“Alright, with what my mum said, and what Merry’s mother said, I think we can come to a reasonable conclusion.”

“And what would that conclusion be?”

“Well, you know how my mom said not to assume people are dead just because there’s no proof to the contrary? Normally, I would have attributed that to her being in denial. But then, she blamed Merry for being the reason why Renko’s no longer here, and then Merry’s mother said that she’d called a few days before her disappearance, saying that everything was under control.”

“So, you think that possibly Maribel had something to do with your aunt’s disappearance, and that one or both of them aren’t dead?”

“Yeah. I’m going to go with both, actually. I have a feeling that Merry would be a bit harder to kill than Renko, considering what we know about her powers so far.”

My, you two certainly are clever. How are you going to prove all this, though?

“You mean that she’s probably just not seeing boundaries any more, correct?”

“Yes, that. If she said she had control over them, then they must have been possible to control, right? That would mean that she was probably controlling boundaries, rather than just seeing them. Even though that doesn’t make much physical sense.”

“It really doesn’t… but then again, other worlds, connected to our own through gaps in boundaries, don’t really make much sense, do they? So, if the two of them aren’t dead, where are they now?”

“Well, that’s a difficult question to answer. I’d say we could assume that they’re both still human, so probably in a place that’s hospitable to humans… but I don’t know. Why wouldn’t they find some way to contact the people who cared about them, in that case? We know they CAN contact people in this world, thanks to the computer sitting on our table right now. So, what would that mean?”

“It would mean, Umeko, that we have to find the place where they’ve gone, go there, and find out what’s happened.”

“Wait, hold on, I thought you were supposed to be the one who was apprehensive about visiting other worlds!”

“We’re so close to figuring this out, and you expect me to just shy away from it? Besides, I already have quite the good idea of where they might have gone. Remember Sumireko?”

Ah. Well, at least following the two of them through that place won’t be too hard. After all, I know it like the back of my hand.

“What about Sumireko? And what does she have to do with anything?”

“Well, she traveled to other worlds in her dreams. To one world in particular, actually.”

“Let me look through these documents… okay, in 2017, she wrote a small paper on traveling to a place called Gensokyo in her dreams. You think that’s the place?”

“Yes. And the border between it and our world is ever-so-conveniently located directly outside of her hometown, which also happens to be your hometown.”

“So, are we going to go there, then? And when?”

“Well, I see no problem with going today. It’s only two in the afternoon, after all. We’ll definitely be able to get there before nightfall.”

Dear, the problem isn’t getting there before nightfall. The problem is getting to safety before nightfall. 

“All right! Then let’s go. We have your messenger bag that we can fill with food and water and things, right? So we have plenty of supplies.”

Kaori goes over to the pantry and pulls out five packs of instant ramen, three oranges, and two bottles of water. “I think this will be enough. We have enough money for train tickets again, right?”

“Yeah, we do. We should probably bring the computer, too. And maybe Sumireko’s gun.”

“I really don’t think that thing will be very helpful. Besides, with my ability to notice magical energy, and your ability to be incredibly good at running away, we should be safe enough.”

The two of them really are suited to running away, aren’t they? It would be unfortunate if they encountered a youkai or two that was simply better at stopping them then they were at running.

“Oh, okay. No gun, then. And I don’t think our phones would be helpful, since it’s been mentioned by both Sumireko and Merry that Gensokyo has no cell reception. We should bring the laptop, though.”

Kaori nods in assent, and puts the laptop into the bag. “Shall we go, then?”

The two of them head down to the station, blissfully ignorant once more of the fact that they’re being followed.

And that, dear reader, is where I shall leave you. One question, though- I trust you haven’t been sharing the contents of this notebook with anyone else? That would be quite rude, you know.

And rudeness isn’t a trait that tends to last very long when conversing with youkai.


	5. Chapter 5

The train reaches the station, and Renko and I hop off the roof. I spent most of the ride explaining what we’d be doing in regards to Umeko and Kaori after they entered Gensokyo, which I won’t bother to explain to you, dear reader. After all, you’ll be seeing it in a bit.

That hill on the edge of town is where the barrier’s weakest, apart from the shrine itself. So, as it happens, I end up walking up a hill in heels while Renko snickers about the fact that she’s wearing boots without them.

Kaori shrugs. “You know, we could probably get through that barrier if we walked enough. It is getting pretty late, though- six PM isn’t very good for going exploring in the middle of the woods and hoping to get back by nightfall.”

Umeko giggles. “Come on, let’s just go! It’s probably not that hard to get in, is it?” She grabs Kaori’s hand, and takes a step forwards.

It would be a shame if someone had intentionally weakened the barrier to allow humans to enter, wouldn’t it?

The two of them disappear into Gensokyo. Renko and I follow. 

Ahh, it’s always nice to be back home. The trees stretch above us for what seems like miles, and the air’s clean and cool. And simply being there makes one feel more powerful.

Kaori seems to realize this. “Well, this place is nice and all. But considering the amount of magic simply lying around, I can’t really distinguish whether something is a magical being or just a somewhat odd tree. I’m afraid we’re on our own when distinguishing threats.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate. Do you know where we are, anyway?”

“Not really. And considering how forested this area is, we probably won’t know for a while. The sun’s going to go down completely in half an hour, too.”

That’s quite unfortunate, isn’t it?

“Well, maybe we could try and find a landmark, or something. It’s not too dark yet, so splitting up wouldn’t be that horrible of an idea, wouldn’t it? Once we find something like a large rock, we can split up from their, and if we find some civilization, we can return to the rock. Alternately, we should also return to the rock when it gets actually dark.”

“Fine. We find this hypothetical rock, and- oh. Maybe not so hypothetical after all.”

The rock ahead of them is quite the curious one. It looks somewhat like a mountain peak sticking out of flat ground. Quite the landmark, I would say.

Kaori pats its side. “Alright. I’ll go to the east, and you’ll go to the west, if that’s alright with you? And when we come back, we can go wherever we found a place that has actual people.”

As a matter of fact, if both of them go in opposite directions, one of them will eventually find the village, and the other will eventually find the shrine.

Well, they would. In theory.

I turn to Renko. “I think it would be an easier proposition for you to follow Kaori, wouldn’t it? You’ll be able to predict whether she’ll notice you or not. And I think it wouldn’t be difficult for me to see past Umeko’s perception blocking.”

Renko nods. “And you’ll come and pick me up, correct?”

“Obviously.”

So, Renko and Kaori head off towards the east, while I follow Umeko to the west.

Not that either of them know that they’re being accompanied, of course.

A few minutes pass, and Umeko sighs. “You’d think that traveling through the woods would be more interesting. I mean, just because a lot of places are reverting to nature without anyone to take care of them doesn’t mean that you see an actual, genuine, ancient forest often.”

“I know, it’s dreadfully boring sometimes, isn’t it?”

She whirls around, looking for the source of the voice that answered her. Not that she’ll find it; I’m sitting in a tear in the fabric of the universe, behind her current position.

I continue.

“Nevertheless, sometimes interesting things show up. Like humans, for example.”

A note of panic sounds in her voice. “Who are you? And where are you?”

I slip out of the gap behind her and pin her arms to her sides. “I’m a youkai, dear. And you’re lost in the woods, at night. Quite an interesting situation you’re in, isn’t it?”

“Hey, let me go! Hey! Kaori! I’m in a bit of trouble here?”

“How long have you been walking? I doubt she can hear you by now. And I doubt she’s in the best situation, either. Lone humans going for walks at night don’t tend to live very long here, you know?”

“Would you just let me go? I’m trying to do something here, that doesn’t involve me getting eaten. Get. Off!”

“But why should I care about what task you’re attempting to accomplish? Please, I would love to hear your reasoning for why I shouldn’t make you my evening meal.”

“I’m trying to find someone who I think lives here, who I don’t think is entirely human anymore. Can I maybe ask if you’re-?”

“Too bad for you. You should have spoken a bit faster.”

I allow myself to fall back into the void, taking her with me. She attempts to scratch at me like a kitten someone’s attempting to give a bath. I don’t think that has much of a chance of changing her situation, but it’s an admirable effort.

In fact, the only thing that will change her situation is going to happen in around five seconds.

A few seconds later, Renko appears, holding Kaori.

Of course, considering that Renko and I are able to see each other from this angle, it should be obvious who is also able to see us. Kaori can see me, and Umeko can see her dear aunt Renko. This leads to a bit of a realization on both of their parts, obviously/

I drop my “prey” and immediately start to giggle. “Oh my, the two of you looked like a practical pair of ghosts. You didn’t even recognize our voices! Really, you should be ashamed of yourselves, as members of the Sealing Club.”

Renko gives a tiny laugh as well. (I think it’s adorable.) “Kaori tried to get away by putting me in a headlock. Where did you learn that? It’s impressive!”

The two current members of the Sealing Club just stare at each other for a second or so. Immediately afterwards, Kaori storms over to me and slaps me across the face. “That was an awful trick! We actually thought we were going to die, you know. Really, you could’ve just said something while we were at the apartment. After all, you two were that magical energy I noticed earlier today, weren’t you?”

“But it was more interesting this way, wasn’t it?” Renko objects.

Umeko, who has been sitting on the ground (if you can really call the non-Newtonian fluid the void is filled with “ground”) and contemplating life for several minutes, suddenly decides to talk. “You know, I agree with my mum. I hate both of you.” She then sighs. “But come on, Kaori, we did it! We found out what happened to the Sealing Club before us!”

Kaori abruptly sits down, after giving me one more slap for good measure. “I suppose we did, sort of. With an added bonus of the fear of death for several minutes.”

I might as well interject. “Well, it was all in good fun, after all. Did you two enjoy your bit of exploration?” 

Umeko lies down. “You know, I did. It may have been somewhat boring, and my heart is still racing after it, but sometimes it’s nice to have a walk through nature.”

Kaori nods. “Yes. But now I just have more questions. Such as, why are the former two Sealing Club members youkai? Are you two still dating? What on earth is this place?”

Renko sighs. “Well, I can answer the last two questions. The first one’s a bit of a long story, so I’m going to make Yukari answer it because she knows more about it than I do and she likes to monologue.”

I do not like to monologue. I simply enjoy elaborating on things that would be confusing to most, and not actually clarifying them whatsoever.

Renko continues. “For the second question; that would be a yes. Definitely. And for the third, this area is essentially nowhere. It is the precise place where something is not. But basically, it’s the inside of a tear in the fabric of the universe. Yukari calls those tears her ‘gaps.’ Which, incidentally, led to a certain nickname of hers originating from the Heian era. Have you ever heard of the sukima-onna?”

Understanding is written all over Kaori’s face. “Ah! So that’s where the legend came from.”

“And now, for me to explain the question with the longer answer.” You know, dear reader, while I explain this to the two of them, I might explain a few things to you as well, hmm? For example, though I’m sure you know by now, I haven’t been entirely honest. After all, would you really expect anyone whatsoever to just cry for a few minutes and then get over it, after hearing their mother’s voice for the first time in five thousand years? No, dear reader, I’m afraid that I ended up crying a good bit of the way through the Sealing Club’s expedition preparations as well. You ask why I’m explaining this now? Well, it’s the reason for certain salt-water-filled events that are about to happen. Also, I’ve decided to make a bit of a pledge to honesty in this journal from now on! Aren’t you proud of me? 

Hmm? You thought I was narrating live? I am! But one can usually tell when tears are pricking at the corners of their eyes, you know.

 _On continue_ , as the French say.

“First, you two will need to know a bit about youkai in general. Youkai are generally formed from human belief; however, exceptions may occur, such as a human or other living being being exposed to too much magical energy, or a combination of the two. Now, shall I start from the beginning of our story?”

“One day, a girl from Ireland was told by her parents that her mother’s job as a diplomat would be taking her to Japan. The girl had just graduated from high school, and was understandably a bit nervous about attending university in a language she was less than fluent in, especially since she wasn’t sure about how her abilities- these being the abilities to see other worlds- would react to being in a new environment. Nonetheless, she was accepted into Kyoto University as a relative psychology major. Though she had a decent start, she soon found it difficult to find anyone who she could befriend.” Oh dear. I appear to be crying a bit. And it isn’t going to go away soon. “However, she encountered a physics student attempting to start up a rather interesting club, and, by chance, she decided to enter it. She soon became enamored with that physics student, and although she didn’t know it yet, that physics student became enamored with her as well.” I flick open my fan, to cover a light blush spreading across my face. “The club acted as an everyday paranormal club for the first few months after its formation; however, when the psychology student built up enough trust, she admitted to her friend, the physicist, that her eyes allowed her to see the supernatural, the boundaries that frayed at the very edges of her world. Surprisingly enough to her, the physicist also possessed a set of eyes that allowed her to see things with an uncanny accuracy, so long as she could see the stars. After the two of them realized this, they began to investigate those boundaries the dreamer could see, leading to dozens of heart-pounding adventures.”

I’m openly crying now. I don’t even try to pull out a handkerchief to wipe the tears away; there are a few too many for that.

“Those adventures couldn’t last forever, though. One day, the dreamer made a decision that ended up bringing her quite a bit of regret. She attempted to harness her powers for a certain method of travel, and messed up horribly, sending her thousands of years into the past. You see, though her abilities had progressed from boundary vision to boundary manipulation, she wasn’t very skillful with it yet. Coincidentally, by the way, the method of travel she attempted to use was the same method of travel we are currently using right now. A far cruder version of it, of course.”

“Anyway, after her (somewhat traumatizing) journey to the past, she attempted to find a village to help her settle in, since she was convinced that she wouldn’t be getting back to the future after trying a few times and failing miserably. When she encountered a village, however, she was driven out. I still don’t know whether she was a youkai or not at that point in time; however, the villagers believed that she was, so out she went. A few unfortunate circumstances later, and she came to the realization that she was no longer human. (Really, she should have known after the first unfortunate circumstance, but what can you do?) Some things happened after that, but essentially, she continued living through the past until she finally caught up to twenty years before present day.”

“When she did catch up to that time, she was quite nervous. You see, though she still looked very nearly the same as she had when she had disappeared all those years ago, her mind told quite a different story. She felt that, perhaps, she had changed so much that the physicist would hate her now.”  
I lean on Renko’s shoulder. I hope she doesn’t mind me crying into it too terribly. (She probably doesn’t. Also, she’s nice and warm.)

“Fortunately for the youkai, the physicist didn’t hate her. In fact, the physicist even acknowledged that she was a monster, and said that she loved her despite that. Isn’t that just the sweetest thing? Anyway, a few weeks passed after that. The physicist managed to pass all of her finals, and looked forward to her graduation with excitement. However, the youkai was worried, though she didn’t tell her girlfriend for a while.”

“You see-” I wipe the last of the tears from my eyes with a silken handkerchief- “Humans don’t live very long, if we’re being quite honest. And the youkai had realized that the human’s birthday was coming up. So, of course, she tried to distract herself by buying lots of presents, ignoring the nagging thought in the back of her mind- ‘eighty years left.’”

“However, she couldn’t keep ignoring it forever. So, on the night of the physicist’s birthday, she showed up in her apartment and let her fears come out, like a great wave. She expected a response from the physicist like ‘well, we still have the best part of a century left, don’t we?’ But the physicist didn’t reply in that fashion. In fact, her reply was quite surprising. ‘I would stay with you if I could, but you know there’s no way for me to become a youkai. I’d do that in a second if it meant I could stay with you, but it just isn’t possible.”

“Now, you two, from what you see before you, it obviously is possible. But Renko didn’t know that. So I explained to her about the boundary of human and youkai, since, as you know, I’m the one in this tale who can manipulate boundaries. She agreed, though she asked to wait until she graduated college. And so, I watched Usami Renko cross the stage on her last day of college. A few minutes afterwards, the two of us traveled to Gensokyo, to make her transformation as smooth as possible. On that lovely May day, Renko joined me as a component of fantasy- and a component, most likely, of making our family members incredibly worried.”

“But then again, what does one say to one’s parents? ‘Oh, Mum, I’m alive, but actually I’m five thousand years old and a monster that preys on humans. Cheers!’ Absolutely ridiculous.”

“That would be all, for the answer to the first question. Any other questions?”

Kaori looks at Umeko, who says: “Well, this isn’t much of a question, but it is pretty late, and sorry about this, but this void is kind of unsettling. So could we possibly go back to the outside world to talk? If it’s not too difficult to do.”

I nod. The void shifts around me, and a pair of lovely red bows appear. Between the two, a slit opens, and the Sealing Club apartment appears.

On a different note, thank you, dear reader, for your assurances that you haven’t shared my tale with anyone. It warms my heart to see someone your age be so polite to their elders. But anyway, where was I? Ah yes, our return to the outside world.

* * *

**_Hey, Yukari? I’m really sorry about this, but I’ve got to put my reading of this journal on hold for a second. Someone just knocked on my door, and it would be rude of me not to answer it._ **

_Oh, of course! I’ll be waiting._

**_Thanks, I’ll be back in just a minute. I know that it’s rude to stop listening to you when you’re in the middle of narration, but it’ll be quick, I promise._ **

_How kind of you to let me know. But go on! You shouldn’t keep your guest waiting, after all._

**_Yep, I’ll be right back!_ **

_Do let me know how it went! I’m sure they’ll be quite the conversationalist. You know them, after all~_

_(I mean, obviously.)_

* * *

Well, that was certainly an interesting interlude, wasn’t it? We appear to be short on time, however. So I suppose I’ll have to put my tale on hold, to finish telling another day. But it has been fun to tell, so far! There have been all sorts of twists and turns, and I expect it even kept you guessing, didn’t it? I do enjoy a good story.

But it’s so nice to be able to share this story with you, dear readers! I do hope you’re enjoying it so far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do apologize for getting this chapter out so late! There was a small issue that caused a bit of a delay. Smart readers like you should be able to figure out why it was late, shouldn't you, though?


	6. Chapter 6

A few minutes later, along with a slight thud, our return to the outside world has been completed. Well, a return for Umeko and Kaori, and another trip for Renko and I. But it would be a return, considering where we’re from even though we don’t particularly live there anymore… I should really avoid getting philosophical with the narration, shouldn’t I. Oh well.

Umeko lies down on her futon. “Well, now we’re in a less unsettling place, I do have a few more questions, if you two don’t mind.” The slightly disgruntled look on her face is a bit worrying, but I suppose I did give her the fright of her life tonight, so she really does deserve to be allowed to ask all the questions she needs. 

“Well, I understand that it’s hard to explain to those that you knew and loved before that you two aren’t human any more. Still, don’t you think that it’s a bit cruel to leave them without any knowledge that you’re alive and safe? Wouldn’t it be nice to just leave a letter or something?”

Renko shifts in her spot (perched on top of what I believe is Kaori’s desk) uncomfortably. “Well. Theoretically, that would work. Telling someone that you’re fine, without giving any details, though… That’s going to lead to them being curious. So, I ended up doing a combination of things, myself. I didn’t give my parents any information, because they’d no doubt be way too curious for me to be comfortable, and I ended up telling my sister… the whole story, basically. Through Yukari.”

I hear a small gasp, and look over to Kaori, who looks like she’s just solved the world’s most enigmatic puzzle. “So that’s it. That’s why Umeko’s mother was so furious at you, then, Yukari? She knew the whole story, and blamed you for Miss Renko’s disappearance completely. I mean, it is rather rude to just up and leave like that, but understandable, actually. I can’t imagine she would have let Miss Renko leave and become a youkai had she known previously…”

I nod. “That was one reason, and another is that with a letter, it’s less likely to run across other family members and have to explain to them. That would be far more troublesome.” Renko didn’t really like her parents too terribly much anyway, so she wasn’t as bothered about leaving them as she was her sister.

Aware that this conversation is getting awkward at a rapid pace, Umeko stands up and brushes off her skirt. “Well, um, if either of you would like some tea, I’m going to go make some. Kaori, I assume you want the peach as usual? And Aunt Renko and Miss Yukari, I have black tea, the peach tea I’m making Kaori, and three types of green tea because she honestly can never decide on what kind to buy at the store for me, and it’s getting a bit overwhelming. Only the peach tea isn’t synthetic, since they’ve started to be able to cultivate peach trees from the clones of old ones nowadays. Normal tea’s possible to get nonsynthetically too, now, but it’s really expensive, and with how much we buy I don’t think we’d be able to afford it for very long. So your choice!” 

Rambling on due to nervousness is a trait that seems to run in the Usami family. Nevertheless, it is interesting that humans have managed to restore entire species from just a few samples of DNA… Sometimes I wonder who’s more terrifying. Then I remember that there are adult humans who are afraid of the dark, and I know that it’s certainly not them. “I’ll have the black tea, please. Synthetic or no, I really don’t favor peaches at all.”

Renko takes off her hat and hangs it on the chair of Kaori’s (?) desk. I realize that I’m still wearing mine, and follow suit to prevent awkwardness. Mine, however, has a tendency to look somewhat more like a towel when hung on the corner of a chair. Oh well. Renko shrugs. “I’ll have the peach too, I guess. It’s not like I have a vendetta against the moon, unlike some people here.”

Rude.

Umeko leaves to busy herself with the tea. Kaori perches on what I assume is Umeko’s desk, across from hers. I feel somewhat short. Luckily, I can remedy that with a tear in the space-time continuum or two. I proceed to do so. 

Kaori awkwardly looks at the ceiling for a few minutes, and then back at the two of us. “Well, uh, about that contacting loved ones thing. I assume, since I felt your magical energy earlier, that you two were here when I called Ambassador Hearn? In that case, well, I’d assume you know why this is a tricky situation. We did promise to let her know about anything that we found out, after all…”

Oh, dammit. I forgot about that.

A voice echoes from the kitchen. “Of course, we can lie to her about your conditions and whereabouts if need be, but I think that would be pretty awful to her, honestly. I have a feeling she’d want to know where and who you are, even if it’s what it is now.”

Dammit, dammit, dammit, I can’t make that decision. Absolutely not. She’d be either confused or utterly terrified if she knew, and if she didn’t, she’d be crushed that I was gone for good. I can’t decide.

“Uh, Miss Yukari? Are you quite alright? You don’t have to make a decision now, you know.” And of course Kaori can see that I’m distressed. Just read me like a fucking book, why don’t you.

With great effort, to make my voice as calm as possible, I speak. “I do believe I’m quite alright, yes. It is a bit of a large decision to make, but I think I know what I want to do.” No I don’t, why did I say that? 

Well. I say I don’t, but…

“Alright, Miss Yukari. Tell us whenever you feel like it.”

My voice is completely calm now. “I believe I’d like to speak to my mother myself, if the two of you don’t mind too terribly.” What the hell did I just say?

Well, I suppose I’m stuck in this path now.

The noise of a cup dropping to the ground and smashing echoes from the kitchen. “Ah, whoops, sorry, I’ll just clean this up. But, uh, that’s quite surprising. I’d say brave, too. Even though you’re a youkai, social interactions of this type are probably still somewhat scary, aren’t they?”

Does this girl really not major in psychology?

“I suppose they are, yes.” Renko answers for me. “But you know, Yukari’s answer got me thinking. Shouldn’t I… maybe… try to talk with Sis?” Oh dear. She looks a bit… more conflicted about it. Very likely because of her sister’s outburst about her, but. Still, I worry.

Umeko walks back in with four cups of tea. “Mom… Well, I want to hope that she’d listen to you, but I have a feeling she’d try to slap you instead. She’s really bitter, honestly. Not that I don’t love her, of course! She just… gets angry sometimes. It’s not that bad.”

Renko slowly nods. “She did get angry a lot, when the two of us were growing up… I hope that my leaving hasn’t made it worse, but it… probably has, unfortunately. I’m sorry, Umeko.”

Umeko simply sits down on the floor next to Renko and hands her up the peach tea. “Maybe if you talked to her, it would help.”

“Maybe.” Kaori says, absently. “But I wouldn’t count on it. I’d count on Miss Yukari’s mother being completely unsurprised about her not being human before I’d count on Miss Sui mellowing out, really…”

“Yeah. Mom’s not really the type to change her ways, is she? But it can’t hurt too much to try. I mean, if anything goes south, you two are plenty strong enough to survive plates being thrown at you, I think. Especially you, Miss Yukari. I think you’re probably going to get the brunt of it.”

“Excellent.” I do believe that that’s the most refined sarcasm I’ve used in a century. Impressive, me. “Also, you two, I do have a question. How are we going to be letting my mother, Mrs. Hearn, know about my situation?”

Umeko freezes mid-sip. “Ah, well, about that. Uh, when we were on the train, we called Ambassador Hearn again, and she decided of her own accord that it would be a… good idea to come here to help us in our investigation. So, well, she should be arriving… tomorrow?”

“Oh… my. Well, that’ll certainly prevent me from getting cold feet, won’t it? Since there’s really no way to escape from speaking to her now unless I go and hide in Gensokyo. And that only would work for so long.” Well, as I said, I’m stuck on that path anyway. 

Renko dismounts from the desk and sits down next to me, giving me a brief hug. “You’ll be fine, Yukari. I mean, you managed to tell me, and you’re kind of in love with me, you know? It’ll be a lot easier to tell your mom. I’m sure she’s had to deal with you talking about weird stuff before!”

Weird stuff does not usually involve explaining that one is a millennia-old monster to a less-than-a-century-old woman who happens to be your mother, but I suppose that she’s correct, somewhat. If I managed to tell Renko, I should be able to manage this… 

“Thank you, Renko. I don’t think I was thinking about that as logically as I could, and you are the physicist here, even if you do break approximately ninety percent of the laws of it at most points in time. I really do love you.” I hug her in return.

Umeko coughs a bit. “Well, er, I guess that’s settled then! Now, we just have to think about… talking to my mom. Well, how hard can it be? I mean, I’m sure that she’ll listen to a reasonable explanation when she hears one. She’s probably not going to throw a pitcher or anything at either of you, either…”

Kaori scoots over to where Umeko is and loops an arm over her shoulder, then squeezes. “Umeko, I know you’re worried, but you’re living on college grounds now, and you’re only going to have to interact with her again with two powerful youkai nearby. You’ll be fine, understand?”

“I’m not worried about myself, Kaori, I’m worried about them! Even if they are powerful, they probably aren’t going to enjoy being yelled at for any length of time, or getting things thrown at them. I know I can take care of myself, but when I saw how viscerally angry my mother got when talking about Yukari here…”

“I assure you, Umeko, I shall be fine. I’ve most certainly had worse. Now, if she tries to lay a hand on Renko, I’m afraid I’ll have to restrain her, but rest assured, I will not harm her. Do you have a time that could possibly work?” I won’t harm her under the vast majority of circumstances, so that seems a reasonable thing to say.

“A time that works… Well, definitely not tomorrow, since your mother’s arriving. But maybe… the day afterwards? The trains run all week, so there shouldn’t be a problem. And she mostly works from home, too, so it wouldn’t be too terrible to interrupt then, I think.”

Renko hops down from the gap. “Well, that should work, then. Yukari, do you think the two of us should enjoy a night on the town before tomorrow, then?”

Kaori tilts her head to the side. “Don’t you two need to sleep? At all?”

“Theoretically, yes, though it doesn’t necessarily need to be in line with a circadian cycle under any circumstances. A youkai could theoretically sleep for an entire winter, and then stay awake all day every day until, for example, mid August.”

I sigh. “Must you continue calling me out like this, Renko? Anyway, under any circumstances, night is the time of youkai. It would be very difficult for either of us to go to sleep at this point, quite frankly. So I suppose we’ll be meeting you again tomorrow afternoon, perhaps? I think we might even show up at the door, depending on the circumstances, of course. It’s been quite a pleasure to meet you two.”

Kaori inclines her head, and Umeko follows suit. The former replies. “It’s been a pleasure to meet both of you as well, though a slightly terrifying one to begin with. Still, we look forward to meeting you again, and good night to you.”

Renko waves. “Good night to you two, as well! Sleep well, both of you. See you in the afternoon!”

I dismount from the tear in the universe, and rotate it 90 degrees, so one can walk through it comfortably. Renko enters first, and I follow, off into a lovely, dark night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry this took so long to get out... Circumstances have prevented it, you see. Death of the author and all that.
> 
> Oh dear, that's the wrong definition, isn't it... Well, I suppose phrases can have multiple definitions, so it's perfectly fine. I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter, though. I believe that something that's less of a recap of the past and more plot-driven should strike the fancy more... Even if both of those happened in sequential order in reality anyway, therefore making the writing argument moot. I suppose I could have summarized, though.
> 
> Wait, wouldn't it be death of the editor? Since I'm the one narrating the story, that's really all that they did. Hmm. Oh well! Close enough.


	7. Chapter 7

Tomorrow, of course, always does come. Whether it’s the day that follows yesterday, as it usually is, or the day that follows a few months of procrastinating, as it often is for college students, it inevitably does come.

And so it has for me, obviously. Otherwise, why on earth would I be writing this chapter of my narration? 

The next day usually isn’t a consequential event, especially for youkai like me, who treat six decades as you humans would treat a year. This one, though, is different, for rather obvious reasons.

When is my mother arriving at the airport again? I should go talk to Kaori about it… well, it’s only five in the morning. Dawn certainly doesn’t correspond to waking in this era, especially for college students. 

Ah, apparently it does for this human running through the park. I wonder what he thinks about two women in outlandish clothing leaning against each other on a park bench while he’s on his morning jog?

He nods at me and runs along. I wonder what he’d do if he knew that the two of us were reason enough to run…

Well, probably keep running, of course. Maybe a bit more enthusiastically, who knows.

Renko awakens and pulls her hat off from covering her eyes. She fell asleep an hour ago, and of course I couldn’t. Mothers, worrying their children even when the children are millennia old.

“Hey, Yukari. Good morning, actually for once in a century. Are you nervous about today still?”

I nod and smooth off her hair. “Somewhat, but like you said yesterday, it can’t be any worse than coming clean to you about everything, hm?”

“Especially since you’ve done it already. Everything’s easier with practice, isn’t it? Do you want to go check up on the new Sealing Club, since we’re up and all?”

She’s staring directly at the sky, she’s got to be aware of what time it is. “Renko, do you mind refreshing my memory on what time college students generally awaken, and letting me know what time it is now?”

“About 10 on a good day, and 5:17:27 AM at the moment. Why?”

Well, I suppose I’ve dropped in at ruder times in the past. Why am I getting all hung up on the concept of politeness all of a sudden? “That’s fair. Would you like to go now, then?”

“It would probably be a good idea to not wait for all the bustle to show itself.”

“What on earth do you have against 18th century fashion, Renko?”

We head to the apartment accompanied by her laughter.

Kaori is not, in fact, asleep like a normal college student should be. Sitting at her own computer, seemingly stressing about an essay. Well, I suppose that’s also something college students do. She spins around in her desk chair when hearing the noise of a gap opening. I have concealed it before, so I suppose that’s natural.

“Who’s there- ah, it’s you two. I thought someone had broken in. And was making odd universe-rending noises for some reason. Did you enjoy your night out?”

Renko settles on the counter, while I, of course, remain where I am.

“It was quite nice! The stars were all out, so I couldn’t stop thinking about the time, but it was nice and warm, so I didn’t mind too much. Have you enjoyed working on that essay of yours, then?”

Kaori gives a slightly pained smile. “I’ve been… tolerating it, that’s for certain. It’s supposed to be on why legends come to be, which is understandably a bit of a confusing topic considering what I’ve just experienced. It’s not due for four days, though.”

“What kinds of legends, specifically?” If it’s about what I think it is, I might be able to guide her to write it in a not-entirely-untrue way.

“Youkai, of course. Even though no one believes in gods any longer, it’s still considered something of an academic faux pas to write about their nonexistence… It’s almost like we’re denying that we destroyed any semblance of fantasy that ever did exist.”

“People who want to act like they know everything, yet refuse to acknowledge that they destroyed what they didn’t understand… It’s a sad state of affairs.” Renko of all people should know this perspective.

“So you’re attempting to explain ‘why humans came to create legends about youkai’, then? Well, I certainly could help with that. I’ve not spent the past five millennia letting my brains rot out, after all… and when you’ve learned everything possible for a time period, there’s always philosophy to turn to. Do you mind me giving a short explanation that might fit in with your paper?”

Kaori looks a bit confused. “I suppose not.”

“Well, of course, youkai don’t simply come from nowhere, despite what it might seem in regards to our actual existence. You see, youkai spring from a similar root to gods- humanity’s feelings towards the unknown. Gods come from humanity’s awe towards power they could not possibly conceive. Do you follow so far?”

She nods.

“Youkai, by comparison, come from fear of the unknown. Now, both parts of this are important- the fact that it is unknown is presumably what your professor wants you to write this paper on, but let’s continue. Obviously, fear of things like wolves aren’t necessarily the unknown, but I’ll get to that. You see, far in the past, with the discovery of fire and with each new improvement in weaponry, humanity essentially had nothing to fear from predators any more. I assume you learned of this in your history classes, and all? Let’s carry on. You’ve likely found yourself worrying about things when you’ve had nothing to fear before, have you not? And in your mind, you’ve made them far worse than they ever would be, haven’t you?”

Another, slower nod.

“That’s essentially how youkai came into existence. Something to fear when the largest cause of fear before that point was gone… and of course, with humanity’s power of imagination, they became quite the terrors until you all decided they didn’t exist any more. Now, how does this help with your paper, you may ask? Well, simply put, it’s quite easy to explain youkai away as ‘something humans created when they had nothing else besides themselves and nature to fear.’ There’s lots of ways you can go about arguing that, of course… Tales to entertain each other, fables with subtle morals at the end. Any of those things could be a suitable ‘explanation.’ So, if you’d like to take that route, good luck on your paper, and good luck even if you don’t choose to do that, for good measure.”

Kaori seems slightly stunned. She’s about to open her mouth to comment on it, when Umeko, with her cape still on, stumbles into the room.

Renko glances out the window and gives a nod. It’s probably a reasonable hour already, then. 

“Good morning, Kaori… Oh, and Aunt Renko and Miss Yukari, too. How long have you been here? Well, at least we don’t have to try and find you. Miss Hearn’s flight’s arriving at noon, and it would have kind of been problematic to attempt to find you two in time.”

“Three hours, twenty-nine minutes, and fifty-six seconds. That’s how long we’ve been waiting. Don’t you think it’s kind of rude to be this late to meeting your aunt, Umeko?”

Umeko appears to be attempting to think of a counterargument, so I decide to interject myself. “Oh, come on, Renko, you of all people should be well aware of how difficult it is to be on time. She’s awake now, you could be a bit warmer to your niece. Speaking of which, why don’t we go out for breakfast? I’ve heard the Satellite Cafe is still open, is that true?”

Kaori quickly types in a search. “Seems so. Is it any good? I’ve never been.”

“Of course! It opened when the two of us were in college. Though its main focus is on sweets, it does have a good assortment of breakfast pastries that aren’t terrifyingly sugar-filled.”

And with that, it is settled. The four of us sitting at a cafe table, enjoying breakfast (or a midnight snack in mine and Renko’s cases) with the waitstaff looking with slight concern at my elaborate dress and Umeko’s elaborate cape, but not with enough concern to say anything. The airport is just a short walk away, so we can take our time here and enjoy the scenery of the terrace. 

“This coffee’s just as good as it used to be when I was in college, you know? The pastries aren’t as nice, though. What do you think, Yukari?”

“Well, I couldn’t possibly know, considering the fact that I’m having petits fours, Renko. Would you like to offer me a bite of your one singular pastry for the sole purpose of having my agreement in this matter?”

“You could always buy another pastry, though! You’re more than aware that you can afford it, miss ‘I Don’t Have To Worry About The Physical Existence Of Anything I Need, Actually”!”

“Yes, but why would I spend my oh-so-hard-earned money on a subpar pastry?”

“For the adventure of it all! Come on, you only buy food in this world once in a decade, you should really live large.”

Kaori cuts in. “Um, you two, I hate to break up your little lovers’ quarrel, but the waitstaff is muttering to each other. Maybe keep it down about the, um, not human stuff in public? Possibly?”

Well, now they’re going to end up knowing, thanks to you saying that. 

“I have a better idea. Since it’s almost noon and all, why don’t we head to the airport? That should put off their concerns with our two friends quite well, shouldn’t it? Since we won’t be here, they’ll have no reason to worry.”

Ah. It’s almost time, then! I see. I can’t wait.

That was a joke. I can wait. I could actually wait for nine centuries, in fact! I do not want to do this.

But Kaori’s agreeing, and Renko’s patting my shoulder, so I suppose off to the airport we go. Our waiter gives us a very forced smile as we leave.

Sitting in the airport, waiting for my mother’s flight to arrive, is possibly one of the most tense situations I’ve ever experienced in my life. Forget infiltrating an emperor’s palace disguised as an onmyouji. This is far more harrowing by far. 

“Flight 89, from Dublin, arriving on time! Please remain in the waiting area until friends and relatives have finished disembarking. Thank you.”

Ah. 

I look towards the disembarking area, despite knowing I won’t recognize her anyway. Her hair’s sure to have grayed by now, and it’s not like I know how her body type has changed over the past twenty years, or even what types of clothes she wears. So I watch the passengers leave, idly scanning for any unusual boundaries within them. Of course, there are none. The world progresses further and further towards utter mundanity with every new day.

There’s a loud noise. It seems one of the passengers has dropped her bags? She picks them up again, then rushes over… towards… 

Towards me.

As she gets closer, I notice the pearl earrings she wears and always has worn peeking out from underneath her hair. Of course, that’s not the main thing I notice.

 

That main thing, of course, would be her voice. In a light Irish accent, I hear a name being called.

_“Maribel!”_

I barely can lift myself to my feet before I’m enclosed in an embrace, surprisingly strong for a human her age. 

“Maribel… Maribel, my little girl, where have you been? I thought you were dead! It’s been decades, how did these two manage to find you? Oh, you’re looking wonderful, dear, it’s like you haven’t aged a day! I’m so glad to see you again.”

I’m numb.

“Oh, why am I talking so much? Of course you’ve probably been through a lot. Well, take your time with talking, alright? I’m sure you have a lot to say.”

After about twenty seconds, I manage to choke out a few words. “Yes. I do have… a lot to say. I’m so glad to see you again too… Mum.”

I continue. “Do you mind if maybe… we talk about this back at the apartment? I mean, the apartment these two girls are renting. It’s the same one Renko and I did when we were in college, I think you know where that is?”

She reaches up to stroke my hair. It feels odd. “My, have you grown or have I shrunk?” A laugh punctuates this sentence, since obviously the second one’s the true answer. Obviously. “Of course, dear. Let’s get going, then. Ah, is Renko staying with you too?”

I nod. 

“Well that’s lovely! Then I don’t have to worry about making sure all of you get back to your separate places safely. Cities are dangerous for a girl by herself, you know? Especially big ones like Kyoto. Now, let’s all head on home.”

I provide a translated summary to Renko and the others, and we head back to the apartment, Renko patting me on the shoulder. She’s always so comfortable. My mother rambles on.

“Goodness gracious, Maribel, you really are so much taller than I thought! Maybe I’ve shrunk a bit extra in these past years, hm. That’s distressing to think about.”

I consider breaching that topic here, but elect not to. “Yes, you certainly aren’t too terribly tall, aren’t you, mum? But don’t worry, what you don’t bring to the table in regards to height, you do in enthusiasm! Or something like that.”

She laughs slightly bitterly. “Well, I’m afraid that the enthusiasm’s gone down a significant amount in recent years. I’ve missed you, you know.”

I don’t respond to that.

We arrive at the apartment, and walk upstairs to the living room. Since there are only four chairs at the table, Umeko awkwardly pulls up one from her desk. 

“So, I take it you want an explanation for…” I wave my hand at nothing. “All this?”

My mother shakes her head. “Dear, you don’t have to give it right now at all. Take your time! I’m sure that what happened was probably unpleasant for you, so you don’t have to feel forced to talk if you don’t want to.”

“I’m afraid that it’ll simply get harder to explain the longer I take to explain it, though. So, shall I begin?”

“If you feel like it, dear.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll start off with this; you’re probably wondering why I didn’t age at all, correct? I didn’t get plastic surgery or anything of the sort, if that’s what you’re wondering.” I wonder if she’s noticed any of the differences besides height herself already? Oh well. It won’t hurt to mention it. I change to speaking Japanese halfway through my thought. It’s more natural to explain these concepts in it, nowadays.

“That’s because I can’t. At least, not naturally. I would have to put in considerable effort in order to allow myself to age normally. Nor can I be hurt significantly, except under very specific circumstances. I didn’t drink an immortality elixir or anything, though.”

She looks puzzled. Quite understandable. 

“That’s simply the way that beings like myself- and by extension, Renko, as I made her a being like myself for fear of loneliness- are. It’s unnaturally difficult for us to die, at least by the hands of humans or of nature.” I let that sink in and wait for the inevitable question. 

“Maribel…? What exactly do you mean by beings like yourself?” 

“Nonhuman supernatural beings that take on humanoid- though not entirely human- forms. That live for thousands of years- or honestly, that are immortal until killed. We’re currently in Japan, do you have any guesses as to what that might be?”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about. You’ve always been a human being, it’s impossible for you to be anything else. Even if that was possible, how would it happen? I don’t understand.”

“Well…” I shouldn’t use gaps as a demonstration. She’s seventy years old, she’d probably have a heart attack. Instead, I gently manipulate the boundary of up and down on a teacup sitting in the sink, lifting it into the air and over the table, where it softly hovers. “A lot of things have happened in the past few years. Mostly involving boundaries.”

She stares, clearly disbelieving of the fact that a teacup is simply floating before her eyes. A party trick creates this kind of reaction to humans of the present, mundane day. 

She taps the side of the teacup. I allow it to drift gently to the side. 

“Maribel, what… what on earth? Your father’s ability- your ability- is to see boundaries, not… not this. What happened to you?”

“I told you about it a few days before I disappeared. I ‘had it under control’... or so I thought. Nowadays, I’m in perfect control of this ability of mine. The manipulation of boundaries. Any and all of them, of course. Not just the ones between worlds.”

“That… I’m not a physicist, but shouldn’t that be impossible?” She looks desperately to Renko, who explains.

“Yes, according to modern physical principles of the universe, that should be completely impossible. There’s one missing facet to those rules, though. And that facet- of course, it’s obvious that that’s magic- is what’s allowing Mari- er, sorry, I’m terribly sorry but I can’t properly pronounce your daughter’s name, so I’ll just call her Merry- It’s what’s allowing Merry to manipulate the boundaries of all things at her whims.”

My mother sits stunned for a moment. 

“Magic is… real? And Maribel, you… can use it?”

“Well, most people have the latent ability to. That’s nothing so amazing, apart from the fact that using it in this world without having significantly stronger ability than the average is near-impossible. Significantly stronger than the average, of course, would be ‘noticeable’. Like my father’s, and mine. Now, when exposed to another world, one more receptive to magic, it would be quite a bit easier to use.”

She gives a tentative, half-understanding nod.

“In college, I began traveling to other worlds in my dreams. At the time, I was completely unaware that they were in fact other worlds, and not simply things created by my sleeping mind. I consider it likely that my ability had been progressing on its own, but it would have likely never reached the level that it has had it not been for my travel to other worlds. Ah, I suppose it’s the chicken and the egg though, isn’t it? I couldn’t have traveled in my dreams had my ability not strengthened… Curious, isn’t it?” I’m feeling incredibly nervous, but not too much so to be unable to give a small smile.

“And all of that led to eventually becoming… whatever you are now?”

“Accidentally, of course. Very few humans would choose to become a being like me unless they were… well, quite heartless.”

“What do you mean by that? What kind of being are you, then? Your description was too vague. All I know is that it’s something related to Japan?”

I sigh. I wish I could have gotten her to guess it without me having to say it outright, but I suppose if I must, I must. She should know what this term means, considering how invested she’s become in the cultures of places she’s been ambassador to in the past. “Youkai.”

“You- what? What? Maribel, you have to be kidding me. There’s absolutely no way that you can be a youkai. You’re polite, calm, you carry on a perfect conversation- you’re the epitome of humanity.”

Before I can stop myself, I’m laughing. Me? The epitome of humanity? That’s certainly not anything I expected to hear. Ever.

Of course, the laughing itself probably gives away that I’m not joking here. A youkai’s laugh sounds… quite inhuman, to say the least. Nothing like sweet little Maribel’s laugh when she went off to college. 

“Maribel? Are you alright? You seem… off.”

I finish laughing. That, oddly enough, made me feel a lot better about this whole conversation. “No, I’m absolutely fine. It’s just… slightly hilarious that my mother, of all people, would be so oblivious.” There’s a solution to this, of course. It’s going to end up with my mother terrified of me, but really, honestly, that’s what I expected from the start, isn’t it? She’s no Renko, accepting of all that comes her way as long as she can find a suitable explanation in any realm. 

“I assume you’re not going to believe this either without evidence, correct?”

My mother, who spent likely fifteen years searching for her missing daughter, who’s likely so incredibly deep in denial she could drown in it, vehemently shakes her head. “Of course not. Just because you use magic of some kind and laugh differently from how you used to doesn’t mean you’re some kind of monster, Maribel.”

I sigh. It’s really a lot more difficult to do this when you’re not deliberately attempting to invoke terror, isn’t it? I look down at my hands, covered by delicate white silk gloves. Of course, that’s for an obvious reason. I don’t want to have to expend the energy to change the way I naturally look every time I have to be among humans. 

I remove one glove and lay it on the table carefully, being sure not to wrinkle it. I do the same with the other. That, of course, undoubtedly drew attention to my hands, and the fact that despite how carefully manicured they are, they’re considerably… sharper than a human’s. Well, that should be enough time for that to be noticed, I think.

I quietly cough, to draw back her attention to the rest of me. “In that case, look me in the eyes and tell me that that is not what I am, then.”

It’s one in the afternoon. My eyes are as catlike as they could possibly be, thanks to the time. For good measure, I also give a small open-mouthed smile.

I wish this wasn’t the only method of doing this, to be honest. This way, I have to stare my mother in the eyes as her expression changes to something like horror.

Not that I’m unused to that expression. Simply, the one who it’s coming from makes it hurt a bit.

She composes herself quickly. It seems that runs in the family. It’s probably an excellent trait for an ambassador. 

“Maribel…”

A long pause.

“You’re not going to hurt me, are you?”

...That was not what I expected to hear. Not from someone who’s taken everything else in this conversation in stride. I would have expected something more shocked, not… Something that a scared child would say.

“Of course not, Mum. I have absolutely no reason to.”

“Even though I’m a human? That’s reason enough, isn’t it?”

“These two girls, Umeko and Kaori, are also human. I’ve known them for far less time than I’ve known you. Trust me, I am capable of judging my own motives.”

She sighs. “Maribel, I… did not expect this. You said it was accidental? How? I can’t understand how you’d let something like this happen.”

“Well, suffice it to say that I was rather terrified at the time, and had no idea what happened until a good while later. That was interesting to find out.”

“...Could I still give you a hug? You’re still my daughter, even if you are… this.”

“Of course.”

She’s very warm. I didn’t remember what getting hugged by a mother was like. I don’t think most youkai ever have had the opportunity. It’s nice.

“I’m going to go to my hotel now, I think. And then home. But if you want to give me a phone number or something…?”

“I don’t actually have one. But how about this? Tell me where you’re living now, and you can write me letters and place them on a table somewhere. I’ll always be able to see them, and I’ll write you back. Also… thank you.”

“I love you, Maribel. I hope your life goes well, and do take the time to remember your dear old mum sometimes, alright?”

“Of course, Mum.”

She awkwardly pats my cheek, then walks out. 

That was an exceedingly odd conversation that went seventeen directions, some of which I expected, some of which I did not. Tomorrow will be Renko’s turn for odd conversations, though. The thought is somewhat comforting, I suppose.

“...Umeko, would you or Kaori mind making us all some tea? We’ve had a stressful afternoon, so it certainly would be appreciated.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, dear readers. I'm afraid that I managed to lose track of time. I thought a week had passed, but it seems that it's been months... Ah well. My account of these events is nearly at an end, in any case. Two more days' worth of accounts, and then this debacle will be over and done with. So do look forward to that, I suppose!


	8. Chapter 8

“...Nmh.”

That’s the noise I make when I feel someone gently shaking my shoulder as I nap. The shaking continues, and finally I blink open my eyes. “What time is it? Good whatever-it-is, Renko.”

“It’s morning.” A familiar face framed by dark hair leans over me. “I can’t believe the great gap youkai has decided to get with the times and become diurnal.”

“You’re the one who woke me up, though…” Ah, someone covered me with Umeko’s cape. That’s nice.

“Well, you did sleep for fifteen hours… I was getting a bit worried, you know?” Renko hands me my hat. “Ran probably is too, what with us having spent two days out here without returning. But it makes sense you were so tired, since all that happened.”

Ah yes, all that.

“...I suppose so. It turned out well, though, somewhat? So I guess there’s that.” I pull a hairbrush and mirror out of nowhere. I know well what a mess my hair gets if I sleep and don’t brush it. “Where are the other two, by the way?”

As I pull out a piece of note paper to write to Ran that we’re doing perfectly fine, Renko explains that they’ve gone to breakfast. I absently retie the bow on my hat.

“It is nearly noon… It’s only barely good morning for you.” 

“Oh my, is that so? Well, I hope they return soon. We do have a busy day today, don’t we?”

“With my sister, you mean? I hope it isn’t too busy and we can resolve it quickly, but I’m not that hopeful considering how she acted last time.” Renko brushes a stray strand of hair out of my face. “There’s always a chance, though.”

“Indeed.”

The front door creaks open and is followed by the noise of two pairs of feet climbing the stairs. Umeko arrives at the top first. “Good morni- what the actual hell, thanks!” 

Oh, right, I was using more than the usual human number of hands. 

“Oh, good morning, Umeko! Just giving myself a hand or two. How was breakfast?” I quickly finish brushing my hair and set to work at tying it in ribbons.

Kaori peeks over the top of the staircase. “Umeko, for someone who’s taken spirits and magic in stride her whole life, you’re not handling this very well. You’ve already seen the extra eyes, haven’t you? I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a few other entire Yukaris within that void. Anyway, breakfast was alright, as was the only class we had this morning. It’s the only one we have together, too. Applied philosophy.”

“Ah, good, I’m glad it was alright at least. Now, I have a question for Umeko, though.”

She flinches, probably out of a combination of knowing what the question’s about and that she’s been far more skittish around me since yesterday afternoon. Well, I suppose that’s natural. The time I “hunted” her before that was obviously a prank, but now she’s well aware that I’m just as capable of seriously harming her as I am of fooling around. Kaori only knows me as someone who’s been helpful to her, after all, so yesterday’s events wouldn’t be as unsettling…

Oh dear, I’m losing myself in my thoughts again.

“...What is it?”

“About what time would be convenient for us to visit your mother today? I would like to explain things to her as quickly as possible, you see.”

Umeko looks visibly uncomfortable. 

“Well, ah, honestly, would it be possible for just you two to go? I…” A long pause. “I’m afraid she’ll be angry at me.”

Ah… 

“I see.” Of course that would be it… “Well, you most certainly don’t have to go if you don’t want to. Nor, really, do you ever have to see her again. I’ll pay for your college if she won’t in the case she cuts support upon you ignoring her. But do be assured of this; neither I nor Renko will ever allow her to harm you.”

Umeko stares.

“I… do you promise? I really don’t want to go back, but if I’ll be safe, then…” 

“Again, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to at all.”

She shakes her head. “No, I… I was planning on cutting contact with my mother after college. This could be an opportunity to do it earlier, since we have this apartment and all, and she’ll not do anything reckless with you two there. Could we maybe… catch the train at two?”

I nod. Renko asks “Do you want a hug?” and her niece accepts gratefully. 

Kaori vacates the room and returns with tea. We all sit (somewhat awkwardly) and chat for the next hour and a half about this and that, with Kaori sometimes bringing up new, exciting topics of conversation such as incredibly elaborate plans to cheat on her economics tests, or her research on old shogi rules. It’s somewhat nice to talk about nothing again… She reminds me a bit of Yuyuko. Perhaps I should introduce them to each other sometime.

The clock meets quarter to two with no fanfare of its own, yet it is met by a bustle of activity from the four of us. Umeko leaves last, after wondering whether to wear her cape or not, and finally pulls it on. We head for the station, and, after some consideration, I decide to actually get on the train properly for once. 

The terminal scans our tickets and we get on the train. A discrepancy between two layers of the universe in the windows makes me ask a question.

“Is this a Kaleido-screen, as well? Doesn’t this train go above ground?”

Kaori explains. “People want to see a land that they haven’t ruined and polluted, even though with the population decline there’s a lot of beautiful abandoned cities around. I think the fact that they’re grown over is beautiful in its own way, but apparently the people who made this train disagree…”

I hum in agreement. It really is just as depressing as it was such a long time ago… Well, for me, anyway. But humans can’t leave well enough alone, can they? They ruin the world, and then when nature begins to take it back, they deem it ugly and replace it with a semblance of what they think it looked like long ago.

Of course, they’re wrong. Gensokyo is a true reconstruction of that ancient Japan, and it’s nothing like this empty, modern painting. The world’s always been brimming with life besides humans, and they’ve always tried to stamp every inconvenience to themselves out.

I wonder if modern humans think of themselves like the gods. I know the Lunarians have a similar mindset- extended lifespans, an artificial “perfect world”, synthesizing everything that they destroyed but found out they actually needed… I wonder what those proud fools think of the humans of today. Do they think of them as threats? Or do they think of them as… well, not equals. They never think of others as equals. But perhaps… peers? Striving for similar goals, only one species through technological means and one through spiritual. It’s interesting to think about.

A while passes, and eventually we arrive at the station. Kaori holds Umeko’s hand the entire tram ride to her house.

Once they get there, though, Umeko lets go and walks up to the door alone.

_Knock, knock, knock._

No one responds, so Umeko opens the door and peers in herself.

“Mom?” Her voice is a good bit smaller than usual.

A voice echoes from upstairs. “Just a minute, Umeko! I’ll be downstairs in just a minute.”

Footfalls on the stairs sound loudly. Seems she runs downstairs often?

“Well? What are you waiting for? Come in. I’m still not happy about last time, but you and Kaori are here to apologize, right? If so, no hard feelings. Come on indoors.”

Umeko coughs a bit. “Um, actually, no, that’s not really what we’re here for. Sorry. We, um, actually, brought some other visitors along?”

“Other visitors? Does this look like a party venue, Umeko?”

“No, but they’re actually kind of important… Sorry for being a bother, though.”

Renko decides to step in now. “Yes, sorry to intrude on your day, but we thought we’d drop by for a visit, sis.” She walks to the door to stand next to Umeko, and I follow behind.

Renko’s sister’s mouth drops open.

“You- Renko?” Her eyes flicker back between Renko and I for what seems like an eternity. Finally, they settle on her again.

“You…” One can see the anger building in her small frame. “You abandoned me! You abandoned mom and dad! You didn’t even say goodbye and now you come crawling back?”

She storms inside. “Come in here so I can give you a piece of my mind. The neighbors will think I’m crazy if I talk about all of the idiotic shit you did outside.”

I rest a hand on Umeko’s shoulder, and we walk indoors. Renko’s sister continues.

“It’s almost as if when that girl showed up, you just stopped caring about us at all! Why on earth would that be, I wonder? Maybe the fact that she can bend reality has something to do with why you abandoned us, huh?”

I give a firm cough. I do not appreciate being called “that girl”. Nor do I appreciate being blamed for Renko’s own decisions. 

Renko apparently doesn’t appreciate it either. “Listen, sis. ‘That girl’ is my girlfriend, and I left with her of my own choice. She even told me flat-out that she would understand letting me continue living as a human and dying of old age while she continued to live forever if that was what I truly wanted. I had wanted to stay with her so she wouldn’t be alone from the first day she was back, thanks.”

“Oh, so you’re just completely selfish, then? You decided that your best course of action would be to become a man-eating monster so you could stay with that girl, who you’d only met three years before that, might I add, for eternity? You’re just an idiot in that case.” 

“I’d like to inform you about what an utter idiot you are for believing that, Yuriko. If she was selfish, don’t you think she might have asked me to erase her memories, so she could live a happy, normal life as a human being? Yet she did not. And an idiot? You obviously can’t understand any living being sharing a different ideology from your own, so you don’t have a leg to stand on there.” It usually tends to take a lot to anger me, and yet. “I had wished we would be able to bring this to a pleasant conclusion, but it seems obvious that you lack the comprehensive faculty to understand the meaning of a compromise, and the empathy to care for anything but cursing out your sister to your daughter, rather than appreciate the fact that your sister is alive and well. You didn’t respond to the first letter she sent explaining the situation, even years later. You’re an incredibly rude, pathetic, idiotic human being.”

Renko opens her mouth to say something and then shuts it again. Thought better of it, perhaps.

Yuriko- Renko’s sister- begins to raise her voice. “That’s rich, getting called rude and unempathetic by a monster who decided to invade my house. Bet all the humans you’ve killed think you’re really polite and compassionate, huh? Want to know why I didn’t respond to that first letter? Because I thought it was a lie. Because I thought you’d murdered my sister and were imitating her. I bet you would have, too, if she hadn’t decided to become like you on her own, huh?”

That is the last straw.

Renko speaks then. “Yuriko, that’s enough! You know for a fact that she wouldn’t do that. You’re being unreasonable!”

“Oh, I’m being unreasonable? How do I know that you’re even anything like my sister at all? Becoming something like that probably twisted your personality into something unrecognizable and you’re just lying to both me and yourself now. Better yet, that girlfriend of yours probably warped your personality without you knowing, and now you think you’re really Renko when you’re nothing like her. Sounds reasonable enough, don’t you think?”

_Snap._

Oh dear. And that was one of my favorite fans, too… Seems at least that I should give it a eulogy.

“And if that’s so? What would be the benefit of telling this theoretical ‘false Renko’ that she’s a fabrication? Convincing her of that won’t bring your human sister back. In fact, it only gives you a pat on the back for uncovering my ‘evil schemes.’ Unless…”

Unless she’s using, or, well, attempting to use, what Renko told her of youkai against her.

Yuriko scowls. “If I convince her that she’s not real, she won’t be real, will she? I don’t want a sister like that in the world. Someone who would abandon me and my whole family doesn’t deserve to exist, especially for as long as humanity lives.”

I hear a gasp. “Mom? Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Umeko looks horrified. 

“Oh, don’t worry, Umeko, dear.” I might as well attempt to comfort her. “Renko won’t stop existing just if she stops believing in her own existence. The entirety of humanity that lives in Gensokyo would have to stop believing in her existence, as well as your sister and the pair of you. And that is unlikely to happen, as youkai walk among all those I just listed.”

Yuriko’s scowl deepens. “Oh, goddamn. Guess I have to live with you two continuing to exist, then. Umeko, though? You’re not going back to college.”

“What? Why?”

“You’re staying here and learning to listen to your elders, young lady. Unless you have a plan for going to college with no money, that is. I told you not to end up investigating that Sealing Club, and look at you! You’re in my great-aunt’s cape, having brought a pair of youkai, my idiot sister and the one who stole her from me, into my house. You’re not going back to college unless you want to be responsible for removing these two from my house by yourself and burning that cape.”

“So first you attempt to literally remove my aunt from existence, and then you ban me from going to college unless I renounce the very idea of youkai?”

“Yeah, sounds about right. You’re a rude, insubordinate kid, you know that?”

“Got it. Well, I guess I’m going back to college, then.”

“Good. Now take these two out of my house.”

Umeko just grins. “Nope.”

“What do you mean, nope? You can’t pay for college without my help. Don’t even think about trying.”

“Unfortunately for you, I have a pair of rich aunts. One of whom’s already offered to pay for it. So sorry!”

There are very few times I’ve seen a human as absolutely furious as Yuriko is now. She stomps across the room towards us and attempts to grab Umeko’s wrist. 

I simply grab her own. “I would suggest you not even think about that.”

“Who are you to attempt to dictate my parenting choices? You’ve never had kids of your own! You don’t understand how discipline works.”

“I understand very well how discipline works.” I do have quite a few shikigami, after all. “I simply understand that discipline in the vein of punishment is incredibly ineffective on children, and in addition it is unnecessary cruelty. You’re not your daughter’s master, nor is she incapable of using logic and reasoning. Why, then, are you attempting to dictate her life’s success based on your own selfish desire to have some kind of revenge on Renko and I? It’s useless for you. So here is what I propose. You continue living your own selfish, boring, mundane, utterly human life, and you allow Umeko the gift of never seeing your sorry face again. What do you think, Renko?”

Renko nods. “I’d suggest sending her to Former Hell, but I think the amount of jealousy within her would probably kill that hashihime instantly on absorption. Sis, I hate to say it, but you’ve genuinely not shown a single attempt at redeeming yourself or even attempting to find a middle ground the entire time we’ve been here. So, we’re going to leave now, before you say something even more inflammatory and Yukari gets pushed past her point of tolerance for your existence. Thank you and goodbye.” 

Kaori hugs Umeko around the shoulders and whispers something. I believe it’s something like “I’m proud of you.” At any rate, I open a gap in reality to send us all back to the apartment, and let go of Renko’s sister’s wrists before I fall through it. The last I hear of her is her cursing Renko and I out.

As soon as we get back, Umeko just collapses on the floor.

“I did it…I stood up to my mother. I can go to college now without worrying about her holding every single thing she thinks I do wrong over my head…”

Kaori hugs her. “You did it. I’m so proud of you. And I’m proud of you two, too, sort of. Even though you’re both weird and I’ve only known you for two days, those insults she was flinging at you were awful.”

“I suppose they were, hm?” I’m glad we left when we did. If we hadn’t I really might have done something I would have regretted. “With that, I think that ties up all the living strings of our pasts nicely, doesn’t it, Renko?”

“Twenty years late, but we did it somehow. I think this needs some celebration. Should we do some kind of anniversary thing?”

“Hm… Oh! The traditional Sealing Club first outing, of course. We should visit the Netherworld! And give these two some tips on what to do if they go adventuring into other worlds while we’re there. …Oh, and tell Yuyuko not to poison the tea, of course.”

Umeko looks up in confusion. “Yuyuko?”

“Ah, you see, once I knew a young human girl…”

Tales of the past continue late into the night, until Umeko’s well and fully distracted from the more recent past. The two humans head to bed, and Renko and I head home, after deciding on a day that all of us have free to go on a slight supernatural vacation. 

That day, I believe, will be the last thing I record in this journal. From the first, this has been a record of Renko’s adaptation to Gensokyo, as well as us tying up the loose ends of our past; of course, the former editor only started publishing once we started tying up those loose ends. So I sincerely hope that all of you enjoyed the telling of this tale, as unconventional as it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it even worth using these notes if I'm just as capable of speaking to you within the entries themselves? Ah well, it's a novelty one doesn't find in most notebooks, so I might as well use it.
> 
> Anyway, although it was not my original intention for this tale to be shared, I suppose that all of your lack of connection to Gensokyo is quite sufficient insurance against its misuse. And of course, if it is misused, I could always perform damage control. Though that certainly would be a bother. 
> 
> In any case, I sincerely hope that those who read this enjoy it, as though it may simply be my life's events, you must admit I put effort into telling this tale. Thank you for reading this far.


	9. Chapter 9

Well, hello, I guess? A long, long time ago and all that…

Really, how am I supposed to narrate this like I’m telling a story, anyway? The old vice president of my club, who’s now a youkai, handed me an old-fashioned hardcover journal and a pen and told me to write down my experiences of visiting the Netherworld as if I was presenting it to an audience. I would say that it’s nearly impossible to get into that mindset, but she smirked at me, so I think she’s hiding something about this notebook, maybe? 

Well, it’s not like anyone’s using the old-fashioned plot contrivance of being a voice within a notebook writing back to me, so I’d assume it’s probably something else. Anyway… Should I do some exposition, completely nonexistent being who I’m narrating to? 

Currently, I’m in the middle of a graveyard at approximately 2:15 AM according to my phone, with my partner in crime/occult investigation, Kaori, and a couple of youkai who happened to be occult investigators before a rather sharp change in their career paths. One of them’s my aunt Renko, an exceedingly odd physicist, so I was somewhat required to go on this trip, I guess? Family obligations and all that? (Not that I’ve been paying much attention to those lately, anyway.) The other one is her girlfriend Yukari, who I considered referring to as “the writer formerly known as Merry” throughout the entirety of this narration just to make a point but decided that that would get old fast, and who gave me this notebook. She’s relatively ominous.

Anyway, unfortunately we’re not here to do any grave robbing, despite all appearances to the contrary. We’re here to invade other worlds! Full of ghosts. The fact that they’re full of ghosts is deceptively important, because it means that 2:30 is the ideal time for attempting to break into their homes. Or to visit your old friends, as it goes. 

I’m watching the time while Kaori holds a certain lycoris-encircled gravestone, getting ready to turn it when the clock hits 2:30 sharp. The two youkai are chatting about desserts, because they’ve sworn off helping us with our occult investigation since apparently it’s less fun if we don’t get lent a hand.

No, before you ask, I don’t know if that means less fun for us or less fun for them.

A pair of crows are flying around the graveyard, seeming like they’re keeping a watchful eye out for intruders. Despite that, they seem not to have noticed us so far, and actually look almost like a pair of robots, flying in perfect concentric circles like that. It’s creepy. This whole thing’s creepy. Actually, question; what kind of idiots go out to a graveyard at 2:30 AM with a pair of youkai? Like, historically, isn’t that sort of a bad idea? I mean, granted, the youkai are talking about sakuramochi at the moment, but the absurdity of this whole thing is just getting to me, somehow.

It really probably doesn’t help that I saw one of them putting her hair up with several more hands than the average human uses the other day, but the situation would still be kind of strange without that, so I do not rest my case, thanks.

I just checked my clock. It read out 2:30, so Kaori turns the gravestone with surprisingly little effort for someone as skinny as she is and we’re blown backward by a whirl of cherry blossoms. 

Looking past the grave, you can see a staircase that seems to extend forever. Towards Nirvana, maybe, symbolically. Well, I guess this isn’t heaven, but even so. My aunt and Yukari brush past us, chatting all the while about the lovely stars tonight, and as an afterthought Renko beckons towards Kaori and I to come follow them up the staircase.

Again, historically, probably a bad idea. 

Nevertheless, Kaori grabs my wrist and half-drags me through the portal to the Netherworld. 

Strangely enough, it doesn’t really feel all that different from our world, I think as I head up the stairs. I mean, there’s some kind of oppressive pressure there, but you can find that at graduation ceremonies and crowded subways. The real kicker is the appearance; a pitch-black sky above an endless emptiness dotted haphazardly with cherry trees, still in bloom though spring’s long passed, and a staircase in the center of it all, so tall it fades to nothingness by the top. Well, I guess it’s time to use the traditional-style Stairmaster, so I’ll write in a while if anything interesting happens, I guess?

 

Well! Nice to talk to you again. I’m being threatened by a samurai in a suit dress. Those two youkai decided to fly up the stairs halfway through, leaving Kaori and I to make the rest of the slog alone. You can see an old-fashioned mansion in the distance from this point, but it’s kind of hard to get there with a sword at least as long as you are tall being pointed directly at your nose.

Oh, you probably want to know what the sword girl’s saying, right? 

Well, she began with a “Halt! As you still live, the Netherworld is off limits to you! Of course, if you wish to continue, I can cause it to cease being off limits, if necessary. When you die, you’ll come here anyway, so I might as well speed up the process!”

“We’re, uh, just here to visit with some ghosts, if you don’t mind? What is your name?” Kaori replies.

“Visiting with ghosts is not allowed. At most, you could visit with me, since I belong to neither world and it’s not an enormous breach of metaphysical conduct to talk to me. However! I will not allow that, despite that. My name is Konpaku Youmu, gardener to the Saigyouji household, and therefore I cannot let weeds enter this world.”

“Hey! I’m a plum blossom over here, and she’s a fragrant rose. You can’t just go insulting flowers like that, you know?” Finally, my family’s idiosyncratic “flower child” naming for their daughters has come in handy. It’s extra helpful that Kaori’s name means fragrance, too.

The suit dress samurai somewhat despondently lowers her sword. “I, er, well, um, well we don’t need any flowers here besides the cherry blossoms anyway! Begone!”

Kaori pipes up again. “Well, if you don’t mind, please tell Yukari and Renko, a pair of youkai that have ventured even further into this pure land than we have, that the reason we won’t be following through on their invitation to come visit a certain Miss Yuyuko is due to an overeager gardener pretending to be a guardian.”

The samurai gives an exceedingly slow blink. “Ah. Of course. Lady Yukari.”

“What about Yukari?”

“She’s… a handful, who I never know when to expect, and sometimes brings strange guests out of nowhere. And my lady Yuyuko’s greatest friend.” This samurai has approximately the same attitude as an exceedingly stressed retail worker, I am noticing. “As you are her guests, I suppose I have to escort you to Hakugyokurou, instead of escorting you out of this world. So, if you please, follow me.”

Walking up the final steps of this staircase, I notice exactly how far up we are. It’s not a short distance. In fact, I’d say it might be the size of a relatively small mountain? Kind of unsettling to look over the edge, at any rate. 

We finally arrive at the mansion, and I hear chatter. Something vaguely about rose briars? Before I have a chance to focus further, the conversation abruptly stops, and someone appears in the doorway.

“Ah, Youmu! And those two with you must be the two living humans Yukari was talking about earlier, of course. Are you enjoying taking death for a test run?”

Someone happens to be what I would guess to be a ghost, judging by the way she’s floating and the limp way she’s holding her hands, decked out in an eccentric blue kimono and a beaming smile. 

Kaori’s the first to speak up. “If death always involves this many stairs, I think I’m going to go searching for an elixir of immortality. You must be Miss Yuyuko, however. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Ah, just Yuyuko is fine, you know? And you can fly after you’re dead, so these stairs should be no trouble at all. Would you like to come in and have some tea, Umeko? Or would you be Kaori?”

“Kaori. And thank you, that would be lovely.” 

Yuyuko claps her hands. The suit dress samurai disappears into the mansion, followed by what I think is a phantom, though with the way it follows her around it’s kind of weird.

We follow, and see Renko and Yukari seated around a low table, with empty cups of what I assume was tea, and not-empty cups of a strongly smelling liquid that I assume is old-style alcohol? Kaori told me about the supposed immunity of youkai to poison, and I guess that extends to this too, considering their old club reports on the matter showed a markedly different reaction to the drink. 

They’re talking about things I barely comprehend but sound fascinating, such as enormous barriers and shrine maidens and divination. Yuyuko floats down besides Yukari and elbows her in the side. 

“I didn’t know you had such a wonderful niece! She’s so polite, too… You’d better be proud of her, you know, even though she’s only human.”

Yukari giggles. “My niece? That’s a bit of a stretch even for Umeko, and you weren’t talking to her in the first place, Yuyuko. That one’s just her friend.”

Yuyuko, still beaming, replies: “Well, she’ll be your niece soon enough, what with the way the two of them keep looking at each other.”

I fight to hide my blush while all three of them laugh at that. Kaori seems equally embarrassed. Soon, thankfully, though, the conversation proceeds to other topics, and I learn some fascinating little tidbits about this world. For example, the barrier between it and Gensokyo is very, very weak, so much so that you could probably fall out of this world into Gensokyo if you weren’t careful. Maybe it’s a good thing we didn’t enter the first time we came, then?

Eventually, the conversation dies down. Yuyuko and the suit dress samurai head out to the porch to do some stargazing, while Renko and Yukari pick up their things 

Yukari turns to me as we’re about to walk out the door. 

“You know, Umeko, just because you’ve met a bit of the occult doesn’t mean you don’t have so much more to discover.”

“I don’t know, I think meeting a few literal living youkai and the princess of the Netherworld are plenty occult enough.”

“No, no. What I’m attempting to say is that just because you’ve had the opportunity to explore a few other worlds doesn’t mean you should stop exploring, stop journeying. For Renko and I, there was no choice in the matter of abandoning our occult exploration. Though I’ve had thousands of years to make up for that, it’s incomparable to what a human experiences when exploring the unknown. At least trust me on that.”

“So, what do you want me to do, then? Keep exploring other realms when you’re always right there to give us a hand?”

She smiles and shakes her head. “Of course not! In fact, tonight is our goodbye.”

“It’s what?”

“Renko and I returned to the outside world to settle our regrets. Now that they’re all settled, if you wish to find us again, I’m afraid you’re going to have to find your way through the barriers surrounding my world by yourself. Of course, with your dear Kaori’s ability, that shouldn’t be impossible, should it?”

“Wait, so what you actually want to do is just disappear into nothingness and make Kaori and I have to work for something we could easily achieve with your help?”

“Exactly. Now, you know, we are heading home now. So why not write some final thoughts in that book of yours and hand it back to me?”

Final thoughts… Personally, I want to explore other realms still. I wish Yukari wasn’t so smug and irritating about the two of us doing it under our own power, and I wish I could be helpful like Kaori is, yet still, I want to see what the worlds behind the layers of film humanity has put up has to offer. And to you, the nonexistent being I’m telling the story to: what do you want to see? Do you want to continue the normalcy of your life, or do you want to hope, dream, and wish for fantasy? Or, more productively- do you want to seek it out? Think on that before I write again, nonexistent being. What do you want to see in this world?

_And as for me, and my thoughts on fantasy- well, isn’t it obvious? Either you embrace its strangeness, or you perish in your own ignorance. Of course, many humans still choose the latter. Which one are you?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goodness, this has been quite the prolonged "farewell, and good night", hasn't it? Umeko narrating the final chapter of this piece was a spur of the moment decision, but I do hope it has been interesting. I still wish to know your answers to the final question, though. What do you think should be done with fantasies? And perhaps to one more: what do you think of the line between fantasy and reality this tale has drawn? Or, on the other hand, that this tale has blurred?


End file.
